SANTIAGO DE CUBA, February 14 (Luis Milán Fernández, BPPIL /
www.cubanet.org) - Since January 24, residents in the vicinity of Prolongación
de Corona, Trocha, and Hermanos Villasana Streets, in Santiago de Cuba, the
island’s second largest city, have been making do with water they collect
every seven days from a hole in the street.
Workers from the city’s Water and Sewer Company opened the hole in the
street January 16, in order to repair leaks to the water pipes running
underneath. They left on the 24th, having neither plugged the leaks or filled in
the hole.
When the water flows, once a week, the hole fills up with water, and the
neighbors fill whatever containers they can get their hands on to take it home.
Eusebio Ramos, the local secretary of the Communist Party, said that since
the pipes broke, a tank truck supplied water to the area once. He added that the
Popular Power (local government) is aware of the problem, but that he didn’t
know that any measures have been taken to solve it.
In the meantime, residents are, predictably, not happy. "This week we
pulled a pig’s intestines from the hole where we get water, and three days
ago, someone washed a pig there," said one resident of Prolongación
de Corona.
Versión
original en español
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