What’s Happening in Moa, Cuba’s Nickel Capital?
Reports denounce high levels of dangerous pollution
HAVANA TIMES – “What comes out of your throat is black. It’s like we’re breathing poison. These people are slowly killing us.” This complaint, shared by journalist Mario Penton on social media, illustrates the level of desperation among the residents of Moa, a town in Holguin Province. In recent days, several citizen reports have shown an alarming rise in environmental pollution in this industrial locality in eastern Cuba, home to the country’s main nickel and cobalt processing plants.
A recent incident set off alarm bells. At the Ernesto Che Guevara Reduction Furnace Plant, ten industrial furnaces were operating simultaneously, emitting visible amounts of gases and toxic dust. “This goes straight into our lungs,” wrote another local resident on social media.
Complaints about pollution in Moa are not new. For decades, Moa’s residents have warned about environmental degradation and its impact on their health. Independent media have described how soot covers homes and people’s skin, and how Moa smells rancid—of acid and sulfur.
A Town Forged and Strangled by Mining
Moa owes its existence to the extractive industry. The Holguin municipality has one of the world’s largest nickel reserves, with current deposits expected to last at least another two decades. It also hosts one of the world’s largest open-pit mines, allowing for lower-cost extraction compared to underground methods.
The area was transformed into an industrial city during the second half of the 20th century. Today, it is home to two active plants: the state-owned Ernesto Che Guevara facility, and the Pedro Sotto Alba plant, operated by the joint venture Moa Nickel S.A.—a partnership between the Cuban government and Canadian company Sherritt International, a global leader in the sector.
Radio Habana Cuba, the official state broadcaster, has praised Pedro Sotto Alba as a “prosperous and sustainable joint business model.” However, scientific studies, local testimonies, and living conditions in the area contradict this narrative.
Since 1994, when the Cuban government approved Decree 194, the Moa Nickel company was allowed to operate for a decade without complying with the existing environmental regulations. Although this “grace period” formally ended in 2004, the practice continued. That same year, Sherritt announced that it was still negotiating a “license with specific standards” with the Cuban government. Soon after, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment approved Resolution 139, which exempted the company from immediately complying with environmental laws.
Documented pollution is severe. A 2011 study by the National Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology revealed that concentrations of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in Moa’s air far exceeded permitted limits. From 2006 to 2009, monitoring stations recorded peaks of 278 µg/m³ of sulfur dioxide (5 times the limit) and up to 2,329 µg/m³ of hydrogen sulfide (290 times the allowed amount). The daily average for hydrogen sulfide was 50.8 µg/m³, when the Cuban standard sets the maximum at 8.
These pollution levels explain the high incidence of respiratory, skin, and cancer-related illnesses in the area. In an investigative report by Connectas and Yucabyte, Moa-based oncologist Yanelis Barrabia Cuenca estimated a higher lung cancer mortality rate in Moa than in other regions.
Additionally, a 2011 scientific study conducted by the Moa University of Mining and Metallurgy acknowledged high rates of illnesses such as bronchopneumonia, severe allergies, and workplace accidents linked to toxic substance leaks in the mining industry.
Between Unsanitary Conditions and Poverty
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, between 2019 and 2023, Cuba exported $2.32 billion worth of nickel. Yet this wealth is not reflected in the quality of life of Moa’s residents. The city, which had a population of 68,924 in 2023—nearly 7,000 fewer than in the 2012 census—has been steadily losing residents. In 2017 alone, over 4,000 people left the municipality. Reasons cited include environmental pollution and precarious housing and public services.
Adela Rojas Preval, a former resident who also decided to leave, summarized the causes of the exodus on Facebook: “Authorities have never allowed studies on the issue, but cancer rates of all kinds are through the roof in Moa, due to massive pollution.” Rojas noted that most who remain do so because “salaries are relatively higher than in the rest of the country, and because the population receives ‘more attention’ in terms of food.” However, she warned, “hoping our government will become aware of and act on this issue is a utopia.”
Forty percent of Moa’s economically active population works directly or indirectly in mining, yet the economic benefits to the state do not improve local living conditions. Horse-drawn carts remain the main form of transportation, and in 2012 there was only one bus for every 10,000 residents. With the ongoing economic crisis and fuel shortages, getting around has become even more difficult.
Many families live in deteriorated wooden homes with patchwork roofs, dirt floors, and outdoor toilets. In a Cubanet report, residents showed improvised houses, wood-burning stoves, and their inability to obtain basic items like detergent or clean water to wash off the industrial residue that constantly settles on surfaces.
“That dust is like grease—you can only get it off with detergent and lots of water, which are hard to come by,” wrote Yacelis Leyva on Facebook, who left the town with her family due to the pollution.
Ironically, Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) reported that Holguín is the country’s second-largest investor in environmental protection, with over 382 billion Cuban pesos (almost US $1 billion) allocated to that purpose in 2023. However, locals complain that factories either lack or fail to use electrostatic filters properly, and that toxic dust clouds, shifting with the wind, sweep pollution into populated areas.
Indeed, in 2024, specialists from the Center for Atmospheric Chemistry and Pollution identified Moa as one of Cuba’s largest emitters of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO). They attributed this to outdated technologies and the absence of proper environmental treatment systems.
In 2015 (the latest available data), Holguin also ranked second nationally in terms of pollutant load, with 18,401 tons of annual BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand). This means that large volumes of wastewater rich in organic matter are dumped into ecosystems, reducing available oxygen in rivers and potentially harming aquatic life.
Experts agree that Moa’s development model is unsustainable. Researchers from the University of Havana recommend implementing an integrated development strategy that includes differentiated tax policies, regional alliances for food supply, incentives for non-state forms of ownership, and a redesign of the local labor and education profile. They also propose a strict environmental policy that promotes citizen participation and access to information about risks. Otherwise, Moa will continue to be a town that breathes poison to sustain a government that has abandoned it.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
another canadian company polluting a 3rd world country
One must actually spend an hour or two physically standing in Moa to be able to relate to this article.