A fuel spill affected the green areas of the Malecón de Cienfuegos on Friday evening, following the overflow of the anti-barrier pools at the Hospital Pediátrico «Paquito González Cueto» during heavy rains, according to a Facebook post by Deputy Alejandro Romero Álvarez.
The official version, released by the legislator, attributed the incident to the heavy rainfall and highlighted the mobilization of local authorities, specialists from CITMA, public health officials, and the Armed Forces.
"Thanks to the swift action, there was no significant environmental damage reported, although there was some deterioration in the green areas of the zone," wrote Romero Álvarez.
However, a citizen identified as Arsi Arcis Vilches directly replied to the deputy in the same post with a radically different version, backed by almost a year of ignored warnings.
"You and everyone knows that what happened is not a direct consequence of the heavy rainfall. It has always rained in the area, and this has only been happening since November 2025," wrote Arcis Vilches, who recalled that Romero Álvarez himself published a warning on December 10, 2025, about fuel staining the sidewalks, and on that occasion, the authorities denied the source of the oil.
The commentator also pointed out that the fuel had previously reached the bay, resulting in millions in cleanup costs, and that this time, it was solely the completely blocked sewage system in the area that prevented the spill from again reaching the waters. "Fortunately this time, and for years now, the entire sewage system in the area has been completely blocked and the dense fuel did not reach the bay," he stated.
Arcis Vilches stated that he escalated the issue to the ministerial level without any results: "Personally, I even wrote to the minister of CITMA, but the response and the action in the province were quite lackluster."
His conclusion was conclusive: "The main cause was political and institutional deafness, as everyone was alerted, yet nothing or very little was done in a year despite the fact that the people spoke."
The impact is particularly painful for the residents because the Malecón was one of the few areas where some maintenance efforts had been upheld. "Just recently, its green spaces were cleared with a lot of effort; today it looks like a disaster zone," lamented the citizen, describing flower beds stripped down to the soil.
The hospital in question has a history of unresolved issues. In August 2026, neighbors reported a sewage leak at the emergency ramp that had gone unattended for months, forcing patients and staff to walk through contaminated water.
The deterioration is part of a broader crisis. The Provincial Company of Communal Services of Cienfuegos operates with barely 25% of its staff, faces over eighty critical points of garbage accumulation, and has reduced waste collection to just one shift per day due to a lack of fuel.
Cienfuegos has a serious history of spills. In May 2018, the subtropical storm Alberto caused the overflow of the pools at the Camilo Cienfuegos refinery, dumping between 12,000 and 13,000 cubic meters of oily water into the Jagua Bay, leading to fish deaths, stained birds, and severe damage to mangroves and coastal ecosystems.
On that occasion, the regime also downplayed the impact and took weeks to acknowledge the true extent of the damage.
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