"I am more thirsty than scared right now." With that phrase, Melanie Enamorado, a 24-year-old Cuban mother living in Guanabacoa, summed up the desperation her family has been experiencing after spending approximately 16 days without access to water.
The video, published on Facebook on Sunday, July 19, was recorded after breastfeeding her five-month-old daughter without having been able to drink water all morning. Within a few hours, it surpassed 37,000 views, garnered more than 3,500 reactions, and received hundreds of comments.
"I'll be brief: down with the Castro dictatorship," he says at the beginning of the recording, before recounting how the lack of a basic service has changed his perspective on reality.
"They are filling us with hate, sir. At least they are filling me with hate. And I, who abhor hate, am a person of peace, a pacifist. I love love, I love peace, but right now they are filling us with hate... and courage," he asserts.
The young woman also expresses her frustration at the apparent resignation she observes around her.
"The neighbors keep drinking, playing dominoes, playing music... I have no reason to be going to the cassava’s house to get water. Something so basic... Without water, one cannot live; you die, you definitely die," he laments.
In addition to reporting the water shortage, Melanie stated that her daughter, who turned five months old on Saturday, has still not received two vaccines that were supposed to be administered since she was two months old.
"The country with supposedly the best health in the world. My God," he scoffed.
A crisis hitting Guanabacoa
The testimony of the young woman coincides with one of the worst moments of the water crisis in Havana.
On July 17, Aguas de La Habana announced that the pump at the Justiz filtration plant in Guanabacoa was out of service due to a malfunction, worsening the water shortage in that municipality.
The situation is part of a much larger problem. Over half a million residents of Havana face prolonged interruptions in water supply and, at the national level, nearly three million Cubans lack regular access to the service.
The difficulties are largely due to the collapse of the electrical system. About 87% of the pumping system relies on electricity, while prolonged blackouts and fuel shortages hinder the operation of the hydraulic infrastructure.
Guanabacoa is among the municipalities most affected since the break, in February, of a main 48-inch water line in San Miguel del Padrón, a malfunction that compromised the supply in large areas of eastern Havana.
A municipality marked by protests
The crisis has also fueled social discontent.
In recent weeks, Guanabacoa has been the scene of several pot-banging protests and neighborhood demonstrations, including those recorded in La Hata on July 8, in Reparto Nalón on July 11—coinciding with the anniversary of July 11—and in Loma de la Pela on July 16 and 17.
It is in that context that Melanie decided to make her situation public.
"At 24 years of age, I refuse to accept this reality. I refuse to settle for this, because this is not living. Life is singular, and I refuse to hand it over to those who are stealing it from us," he stated.
Before finishing the recording, he made it clear that he does not intend to remain silent.
"This is just the beginning. I'm not going to settle for just this," he warned.
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