A viral video on Facebook highlights the neglect of the Port of Guayabal, located in the municipality of Amancio, province of Las Tunas, and describes it as a "daylight economic crime" perpetrated by the Cuban regime against one of the most strategic logistical assets in the north of the island.
The video, published by content creator Aldo Ruiz, showcases the dilapidated facilities of the port and poses a direct question: why does an infrastructure with such potential remain in ruins.
"This is called the Port of Guayabal. What you see here is not just an old dock, it is economic crime in broad daylight. A port that was designed to move millions and that today the system has turned into a graveyard of iron and salt," Ruiz states in the recording.
According to the complainant, Guayabal has exceptional geographical and historical conditions: it is the natural outlet for the sugar and agricultural production of northern Las Tunas, it has a railway network that "once was legendary" and has direct connection to the Old Bahamas Channel, just a few nautical miles from the southeastern coasts of the United States.
However, Ruiz points out that the Cuban government would rather let the docks fall apart than open the door to private capital.
"We are just a step away from the coast of the United States, but they prefer to let the docks fall apart rather than relinquish control to private capital," he states.
The content creator describes what Guayabal could be with a real investment: a modernized logistics center with deep dredging and cranes capable of moving containers and supplies for all of eastern Cuba, connected to the Bahamas and the eastern coasts of the United States, and a generator of jobs for the population of Chaparra and surrounding areas.
The Port of Guayabal has over two centuries of history. It originated as a fishing dock in the 17th century and became a key component of the sugar industry in the late 19th century when the American company The Francisco Sugar Company built a sugar mill 16 kilometers from the coast and used the port to export sugar, precious woods, and honey.
After the 1959 Revolution, all facilities were nationalized and the port operated as the "Granma" Bulk Sugar Export Maritime Terminal.
The deterioration of Guayabal is not an isolated case. The port of Santiago de Cuba went from having 35 forklifts and four cranes in 1989 to only 15 forklifts and one active crane in 2016, according to data that illustrate the pattern of decline affecting the entire Cuban port network.
The complaint arrives at an unprecedented economic crisis: power outages of up to 15 hours daily, collapse of sugar production, fuel shortages, and total lack of investment in infrastructure.
"Cuba is not poor; it is held captive by people who do not understand what a load balance is. The day we free this dock, Guayabal will stop being a ghost town and will become the engine of the north. Our fortune lies along that coast; we just need to be freed from this chain," concludes Aldo Ruiz.
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