After more than two months without drinking water, the residents of the town of Ecoa 13 in Villa Clara, on the road to Camajuaní in Santa Clara, closed the avenue in protest against the authorities' negligence and demanded the restoration of the service.
The protesters confirmed that they have been without water for over two months, so they took to the streets to block traffic shouting "we want water."
Women and children placed several empty plastic tanks in the middle of the street to obstruct vehicular traffic.
After the protest, the regime sent three water trucks to calm the situation.
Internet user Amelia Leon Pacheco, a resident of that town, stated that the protest took place because the discontent is widespread. "It is unsustainable to have a population without water for so many days. There is no justification... the solution was immediate and the council delegate knew it because I myself called his attention to it; timely intervention could have prevented this," she said.
A witness confirmed to the independent outlet Diario de Cuba that "people have been carrying water along the road with those little buckets for weeks."
More than 60% of Cubans live without a reliable supply of drinking water, and 80% experience power cuts in their homes, according to a survey conducted by the Observatory of Social Rights in Cuba last year.
In that context, protests over water shortages and power outages have become increasingly common.
Last year, more than a dozen Cuban women, many of them accompanied by their children, closed the intersection of Monte and Agramonte streets in Old Havana in protest of the prolonged water shortage in that Havana municipality.
The regime blames the crisis in the water supply on the poor condition of the pipelines and the lack of maintenance, as the water pumping equipment, at least in the capital, has gone without maintenance or replacement for over 20 years.
What do you think?
COMMENTFiled under:
