HAVANA, January 7 (Luis Viño Zimerman) – The municipal service
operations keep falling behind in Havana. Tons of debris pile up on the streets,
and some places haven’t had the trash picked up in months.
The mounds of trash serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other
vermin, which the Ministry of Public Health is trying to combat by spraying, but
residents here complain that it seems to be a waste of scarce resources to spray
when the piles of trash are not cleaned up.
Public Health is concerned about the spread of the Aedes aegypti mosquito,
which can transmit dengue fever, among other diseases. To control it, it is
spraying with chlordane mixed with fuel oil.
An expert who declined to be identified said that the spraying is effective,
but that it affects some people’s respiratory system, especially the very
young and old. Some residents try to evade the spraying operation, but the
officials have been empowered by the government to spray inside every home and
even to impose fines on those who try to prevent it.
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