Amid Cuba’s Energy Crisis a Leading Coaling Town Disappears
“The neighbors began to leave one by one. They took the doors, the windows, whatever they could, and headed to Manati to try to survive.”
HAVANA TIMES – A sack costs 800 pesos in Sancti Spíritus; 1,000 in Cienfuegos; 1,400 in Holguín: the price of coal – black gold for Cubans in a year that has already broken the record for electricity deficit – rises in line with a country that has no options for cooking or lighting. In this context, the dismantling of Las Carboneras, a village that lived off producing and selling this product, complicates the energy situation in Las Tunas.
Despite the urgency caused by the collapse of the electric system, coal production in Las Tunas is going through a tough time. The municipal company Agroforestal had only two full-time producers, and they recently quit. Now, according to its director, the company works with intermittent workers, who “come, make a furnace, and leave.”
No coal worker is making a profit: the State pays 15 pesos per kilogram of coal – up from only four pesos recently – and its plan is to buy the bag for just 500 pesos ($1.50 USD), while the price on the informal market triples that figure, plus the empty sack has to be provided.
Las Carboneras had no more than 10 houses, laments a report from the local newspaper Periodico 26 this Thursday, but it led the coal production in the province. The village was extremely poor, on the way to the municipality of Puerto Manatí. The children in the area were “destined” to be coal workers, and the drinking, to endure the misery and the “mythical assault of the mosquitoes,” was common.
“The neighbors began to leave one by one. They took the doors, the windows, whatever they could, and headed to Manatí to try to survive,” explains Enrique Perez, a coal worker since he was nine years old.
The silhouette of the large furnaces in the village – each one filled 100 sacks – managed by barefoot workers with no protection against the fire, was unmistakable, according to the man. A worker would even watch the pyres all night. People from Las Tunas would come to the village to buy coal without intermediaries. Despite the harshness of the work, “they defended a particular business,” which contributed to their effort.
Without attributing the downfall to the State, Rojas recalls how the village lost everything. First, the school closed, forcing children to walk several kilometers, through a path full of marabú bush weed, to the nearest classroom. They would return at night. Then the store closed, taking away the few reliable supplies the oldest farmers had.
“There was no other choice. People had to leave,” concludes Rojas. “To make coal, you have to be at work from dawn, there’s no way to go around looking for food, at least not every day. We stopped receiving the chicken, the mincemeat…”
After 30 years of living from his work in Las Carboneras, and besieged by cattle thieves and bandits from the area, Rojas also left. “I endured as much as I could, but they stole my animals; one night three men came and even threatened us. My wife became so nervous that every time the dog barked, she started crying.”
Now they live in an improvised shack in Puerto Manatí, but they say they are “calm.” Rojas still maintains some furnaces in Las Carboneras, encouraged by the rise in coal prices. However, he is clear with the Communist Party’s newspaper in Las Tunas: “The money is not enough! This is not paid for by anything. Making coal is very hard work.”
“As expected, the coal workers ask for clothes, shoes, files… They are not just any workers,” complains the director of Agroforestal in Las Tunas. “In recent times, we’ve given them files, machetes, saws, in small amounts.” But production is not taking off.
In a state of abandonment and surrounded by marabu, local authorities have been clear about Las Carboneras: “There is no way to recover the community.”
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
…. and here’s the proof, “Moscow gave two million to Havana for the repair of thermoelectric plants
Russian ambassador to Cuba, Viktor Koronelli, says that the construction of a 200 MW thermal power plant on the island is a priority.”
Two million dollars for a problem of this magnitude is almost nothing considering the refurbishments and construction needed would cost hundreds of million to billion of dollars. Oh, and I don’t think they brought any flour either.
Mark: One might think so but what will most likely happen is that right before total collapse one of their communist/dictatorial comrades will come with a little fuel for the power plants and cooking gas – but just enough for everyone in need can fill their tank…. once. They might come with a little flour and rice too. The regime will tout this as an example of the helping hand of communism and that’s why “el revelucion” should continue.
Cuba’s sad state of affairs would literally change in one day if it were to renounce communism and embrace a democratic free market society. Food, medicines, fuel, and country wide opportunities would come flooding in the very next day.
Eventually, the Cuban state will fall and Cuba will be free again.