Cuban authorities denied this Friday the rumors that circulated on social media about a supposed risk of collapse at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes dam, located in the municipality of Contramaestre, in the province of Santiago de Cuba.
The journalist published on his Facebook account that there is no danger or sign of structural damage to the dam, citing statements from the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH), Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, who assured from the site that “there is not the slightest risk, neither in this dam nor in any other dam in the country.”
Rodríguez Milanés criticized that some communicators spread information without verifying the sources or cross-checking the data, which caused unnecessary alarm among the residents of Contramaestre and surrounding areas.
The denial arises after a Facebook post by the user Arnoldo Fernández, which warned about slippages in the structure of the reservoir and a possible collapse, accompanied by out-of-context images that were marked by Rodríguez Milanés with the word “FAKE.”
The president of the INRH explained that it is true there was a slide in the vegetation layer on the dry slope of the dam, but this is an area that poses no danger and that the reservoir maintains all its technical parameters in order. He warned that a technical brigade from Granma will be dispatched to restore the affected area.
The Carlos Manuel de Céspedes dam is one of the most important in eastern Cuba and supplies water to several communities in the municipality of Contramaestre, which is why the rumor caused concern among the residents.
The authorities of the INRH reiterated that monitoring of the dams across the country remains active and that there is no threat to the population. "The population can be assured," said Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez in the video from Santiago de Cuba.
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