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FROM
CUBA
Water situation worsens in Holguín municipality
HAVANA, Cuba, November 4 (Reinaldo Cosano
Alén / www.cubanet.org) - The Rafael
Freyre municipality in Holguín province
is undergoing the worst drought in the last
decade; 22 districts have no water, and
over 1,000 wells are dry.
In some areas, illegal vendors are selling
water at one peso per liter. The few tank
trucks that distribute water are not enough
to meet demand. Some residents have to go
more than 5 kilometers to get water. Agriculture
and ranching are experiencing difficulties
as never before.
"If it doesn't rain within the month,"
said Guillermo Llanos, a local resident,
"more than 70 percent of the wells
will run dry."
Llanos said the schools and the municipal
hospital have been getting their water from
tank trucks.
"The old Santa Lucia sugar mill is
a specter of what it used to be, and since
cattle ranching and agriculture are undergoing
a crisis, tourism is the only economic activity
in the area, concentrated in the Esmeralda
and Pesquero beaches," said Llanos.
There is an aqueduct taking water 33 kilometers
from the Cauto river to Rafael Freyre, but
frequent breakages render the supply unreliable.
It is said the Cuban government is suing
the Italian suppliers.
Versión
original en español
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