Functions at the aquarium in Santiago de Cuba are suspended due to a shortage of food for dolphins.

The Baconao Aquarium, a place very popular among children during the summer, shows a high level of deterioration. In addition, there will be no dolphin show due to a lack of food.

El acuario de Baconao muestra un alto nivel de deterioro y abandono © Collage Facebook / Yosmany Mayeta Labrada
The Baconao Aquarium shows a high level of deterioration and neglect.Photo © Collage Facebook / Yosmany Mayeta Labrada

The economic crisis in Cuba has led the aquarium in Santiago de Cuba, located in the Baconao National Park, to suspend its emblematic dolphin show due to lack of food and to exhibit a worrying deterioration just in the middle of the summer season.

The journalist Yosmany Mayeta shared on Facebook a gallery of images that shows the high level of abandonment of the tourist facility, a key element in the attractions of Baconao Park and a very visited site by children in the summer.

Facebook screenshot / Yosmany Mayeta

Especially moving is an image: in it, a dolphin is seen in a half-filled pool, whose walls show that the recreational center has not received maintenance for quite some time.

One of the followers reported that currently it is impossible to plan a trip to Baconao, increasingly lacking attractive offers, "because they do not plan to have dolphin shows until the weekend, due to a lack of food."

"We have to look for transportation, and it's quite expensive, and when you arrive here (Baconao aquarium), you come across closed doors, and that's even during the children's holidays, where can we go in this messed up country?" exclaimed the enraged complainant.

The woman indicated that there is total neglect, and furthermore, no one offered her an explanation as to why the fish tanks are empty and dirty: "As long as they have food for the fish, they will remain open to the public on some days," she pointed out.

He also pointed out that dolphins suffer mistreatment, being forced to remain in dirty tanks with a small amount of water.

Mayeta emphasized that the information was verified with neighbors of the facility, who agreed in pointing out that the aquarium lacks hygiene in the fish tanks, the feeding is scarce, and neglect in interior and exterior areas is visible.

Although the current state of the Baconao Aquarium in Santiago de Cuba affects children, who have fewer and fewer places to enjoy that stage of their lives every day, the distressing situation of the facility is not surprising.

Recently, the Cuban government announced restrictions on the offerings in the recreational plan for this summer.

In the official program Mesa Redonda, Raúl Fornés Valenciano, first vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation, acknowledged that the stage will take place in a complex economic situation, which "creates certain restrictions in terms of offers, but there is a varied planning of activities."

However, the official forgot to mention that the high prices of gastronomic and recreational offers make several places inaccessible for the majority of the Cuban population.

In this sense, a Cuban recently showed how little she can buy with a professional salary, suggesting that if she can barely meet her food needs, she couldn't invest anything in recreation.

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