Cuba: Women Block Their Havana Street Demanding Water
They have not had water in their faucets for months
Under the intense sun, the protesters expressed their outrage over a problem that affects every aspect of their lives.
HAVANA TIMES – With buckets, tanks, and other containers, a dozen women and their children blocked access to vehicles on Calzada Vieja between C and D in the Havana municipality of Regla, protesting the lack of water in the area for almost four months. After fruitless complaints and bureaucratic procedures, the protesters, from the Unión neighborhood, decided to take action on Saturday July 19th.
“It’s over! We’ve been without water for almost four months!” one of the women complained, as a pair of motorcyclists insisted they remove the objects from the road, according to a video posted on social media. Visibly upset by the situation, the women argue that they’ve gone “everywhere, but it’s always the runaround.”
Under the intense sun the women expressed outrage over a problem that affects every aspect of their lives, from food preparation and personal hygiene to caring for young children and the elderly.
Near the well-known Guanabacoa intersection and the oil refinery, in the Unión neighborhood, the most affected area is located high on a hill. “The water situation here is critical,” a resident confirmed to 14ymedio. Despite everything, she feels less affected because she has been without water for only a month, given that her house is located at the bottom of the natural elevation.
Shortly after the protest began, a water truck arrived at the scene to provide residents with water supplies. This arrival helped break up the demonstration and restore vehicle traffic, according to this newspaper. Residents in the surrounding area came out with buckets and electric pumps to try to collect as much water as they could.
Near the truck, police cars and other vehicles bearing the Criminalistics Department emblem could be seen, as well as local government officials trying to keep the area calm.
The water shortage is a problem that increasingly affects Cuban homes due to the poor condition of pumping equipment, the lack of electricity, and the broken water mains. In recent months, the problem has only worsened in parallel with the drought and widespread blackouts that disrupt daily life on the island.
Street closures, whether to protest the poor condition of housing or to denounce the lack of water supply, have become increasingly common in Cuba in recent years. In Havana, lines of people are frequently seen blocking traffic, demanding everything from a solution to their housing problems to the arrival of a water tanker truck to alleviate the water shortage.
Last June, Lazaro Aguilar Medrano, a resident of Aguiar Street in Old Havana, was arrested after blocking traffic to demand an institutional response for the poor condition of his home. Instead of officials, it was the police and State Security who arrived at the scene.
In November 2023, a dozen women and their children also blocked traffic on the corner of Monte Street and Agramonte Street in Old Havana. After several days without water, residents in the area decided to protest to highlight their situation.
“We’re not doing anything illegal, we’re just demanding our rights,” one of the residents then asserted.
Translated by Translating Cuba.
To Stephen i agree 100% with i get blacklists and told they could deport me for even visiting people in jail in Cuba that where in the protests The Cuban Military gave the group from Canada and Mexico a very bad time when some people tried to get the families of the people in jail medicines and other needed items including small amounts of $. in Cuba men can get beaten up and 20 yrs in jail in Canada maybe 20 days in jail and a bank account frozen .
Rick from Canada writes: “Where are the men? To the men of Cuba, why are you allowing women and children to fight for you?”
There are probably two reasons why men shun public disobedience with the brutal totalitarian state authorities.
One. The State authorities are very reluctant to clap down exceedingly hard on a female protest as opposed to one initiated and instigated by an all male cast.
It does not take much for the aggressive Cuban black berets totalitarian special forces trained specifically to literally combat and if necessary crack Cuban skulls to instil immediate order and civility. Cuban males know that. They are not stupid. They are not going to to put themselves in harms way if alternatives exist.
Moreover, no all male Cuban black berets are going to enter a potential public display of brutal force against defenceless females. How is that going to look on social media and state media Cuban black berets beating helpless females who in desperation are simply crying out for water?
Two. Like Cuban males, Cuban totalitarian state police authorities are not stupid. They fully understand the power of propaganda. The authorities are not going to send specially trained male black berets to quell a group of helpless females asking for an essential of life – water.
The totalitarian all male black berets are a lethal force ready at a moments notice to punish street protests particularly those involving males. Cuban male totalitarian special forces fighting to instil Cuban law and order against other Cuban males actively protesting on Cuban streets is always a propaganda gift. Such a display of force and brutality will be ingrained in the minds of all Cuban males.
Rick from Canada do Canadian police – RCMP – OPP – and all municipal Canadian police forces use outright brutality to quell protests on Canadian streets? Hardly. In Cuba they do.
Rick from Canada you need to understand the intricacies of how the Cuban culture operates. Using ethnocentric understanding of what Canadian males would do in this very common everyday Cuban scenario simply does not work.
Cuban males are very wise to not be seen participating and let the females be the public personas on the front lines and watch how quickly the Cuban authorities react to stop any negative news from spilling unto social and state media. In this scenario see how well it worked.
Where are the men? To the men of Cuba, why are you allowing women and children to fight for you? You must provide for and protect them. Stand up and fight for your living standards. The Socialist Marxist Communist regime is failing, and the Communist leaders are frightened. Fight for your families and your freedom. Men of Cuba, endure the beatings from the Communist regime, but fight, fight, fight for your self-respect.
Socialism is a failed system. Since Fidel took power by force, the supply of drinking water to homes has been decreasing, and water has been rationed, not because of a lack of water, but because of infrastructure that has never been improved or modernized. That’s socialism. It’s beautiful on paper, but utopian in practice.
The water delivery infrastructure in Cuba is in terrible shape. Even in the best neighborhoods, where water for individuals homes is stored in tinacos (large tanks of water) as a means of evening out the availability of water to the home. In these neighborhoods, people advertise that water is delivered “every day”. Recently however, these daily deliveries have been sporadic and water conservation is the rule of the day. Availability of water is a worldwide problem in underdeveloped countries. The uniqueness of the problem in Cuba is the persistent lack of resolution. Even the most strident Castro bootlicker doesn’t expect the water problem to be solved anytime soon.
There isn’t enough of almost everthing in Cuba.
If one neighborhood gets a truck load of water, another neighborhood will get less.
Cuba’s means of production and infrastructure to maintain a semblance of society are many decades old and almost completely broken. Most of it can no longer be fixed.
Cuba is running very low on money and is deeply in debt, so they can buy only a little of what they need from imports.
I think many Cubans are hoping things will get better, that maybe a miracle will save them.
Things will absolutely not get better, even temporarily. There will be no miracles. The spiral will continue constantly downward.
Prepare the best you can for it.
Water is needed by everyone in county like Cuba everyone should get at 20 liters of water per day free