14ymedio, Havana, 6 September 2023. – – Dozens of residents in Carlos Rojas village, in the province of Matanzas, protested in the streets this Wednesday because of the lack of water supply. The local people demanded the restoration of the service and criticised the apathy of the officials, according to statements to 14ymedio by the dissident Martha Beatriz Roque.
According to the dissident, an ex-prisoner of the Black Spring the water supply problem has affected the area for several days. Roque, who was able to talk by phone with the activist Ania Zamora, a Carlos Rojas resident, explains that local anger has increased in the last few hours.
“Apart from the fact that we have been without water for days, now they want to take away the transformer because there is no electricity in Perico [a nearby village] and the head of the electricity company came to take it away to re-establish service there, but if they take it away then the problem we have with the water will last much longer,” said Zamora in a call to the dissident.
“They tell us lies and more lies”, complains Zamora about the actions of the officials. In the recording of the call, to which this newspaper had access, the activist adds that along with the electricity company’s directors and several party officials, the police have also arrived in the village “to frighten” the residents.
“Not only have we been left for days without water, now they want to take away the transformer because there is no electricity in Perico.”
“There are a lot of people involved, they are in front of their houses and in the streets, we are not going to move until we get water and so that they don’t take away the transformer. The people are great, they’re not quiet, they’re shouting at the officials,” says Zamora. Attempts by this newspaper to contact Martha Beatriz Roque were unsuccessful, her mobile phone was “switched off or out of range”.
The village of Carlos Rojas has a population of approximately 6,000 inhabitants and is located on the road that connects the town of Cárdenas with the municipality of Jovellanos.
This is not the first time that the village residents have staged a protest to demand the restoration of water services or the reestablishment of the electricity supply. In November 2020, they received several officials and military personnel shouting “Liars!” after several hours of blackout.
“We are tired of lies,” warned activist and Lady in White Sissi Abascal Zamora, Annia’s daughter, currently in prison and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for painting ’Patria y Vida’ on a sheet during the protests of 11 July 2021.
“There are a lot of people involved, they are in front of their houses and in the streets, they are not going to move until we get water and so that they don’t take away the transformer.”
In those images, taken in the dark and only visible by the light of the mobile phones, one can see the officials confused and overwhelmed by the avalanche of complaints and criticisms of their management.
In September 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, local residents also took to the streets to demand the repair of power lines and a food supply.
The name of the village is a tribute to the pro-independence general Carlos María Rojas Cruzat, who was elected mayor of Cárdenas during the Republican period. The community has traditionally been involved in the cultivation of sugar cane and livestock, which is why in recent years it has been greatly affected by the decline of the sugar industry on the island.
Translated by GH
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