2023-05-03 04:30:47
“Here, with the amount of potatoes we have in the fields, if we don’t go and steal it, we practically don’t see it.” Such was the assertion of a resident of the Horquita settlement, in the municipality of Abreus, during a tour that involved the local press. We had barely left behind, and very close, the lands of the most important agricultural center of the province, where the tuber sacks were waiting to be collected.
Confirmation of the fact came immediately when we visited the Grandparents’ House and the unit of the Family Care System of the town itself. In the menus offered to diners -the majority, the elderly and people in vulnerable situations-, the potato was conspicuous by its absence, and the rest of the food too. Even, by that date, the second round of potatoes had already been marketed in the provincial capital, while in Abreus they were still waiting for the first.
However, the economic indicators of the Horquita Agricultural Company reflected over-compliance in sales of more than 30 million pesos in relation to the estimated plan for the first quarter of the current year, the best behavior in the last five years. What we have seen made us wonder how such divorces are explained.
No one doubts that Horquita is today one of the most solid entities within the agricultural system, but its social and community projection, regardless of assigned tasks, is limited. Like other enclaves in the province, the tying of what it produces to national demands obstructs the impact and transformation that it might generate where it resides. The levels of centralization of our economy, with thoughts still immersed in bureaucratic dynamics, limit corporate responsibility and the real possibilities of autonomy in the municipalities.
Quite similar conditions are found in La Milpa, a coastal settlement located a short distance from the Hotel Pasacaballos in the Pearl of the South. A press release published in the online edition of this newspaper outlined the host of difficulties faced by its inhabitants, which are due to the lack of basic services. In this matter, government obligations cannot be ignored, but if there is an emblematic tourist facility very close to the site, is it not up to you to act on said problem? To what extent does it do?…
In Guabairo, another community in the head municipality, we encountered similar circumstances. This town is home to one of the largest industries in the country, the Cienfuegos Cement Factory, and among the agglomeration of approaches from its neighbors, waiting for solutions, we observe that the housing fund there is not entirely solid either.
If we look further we would be surprised at how regular these inconsistencies are. In many cases, we assist companies that turn their backs on the environments where they work, that they do not even generate jobs for the surrounding population and use transportation and fuel – a deficit resource in Cuba – to move their workers from the city.
The subject reaches greater prominence, from the accentuated ruralization of the country, another of the efforts of the Government. Transformation actions in vulnerable neighborhoods and settlements – a large number of them suburban and rural – have engaged entities and organizations in responding to old problems; now, these interventions are required to work not only in the heat of a political and governmental strategy, but as part of a public duty.
Almost abandoned situations do not fit or are justified in the Cuban reality, when a few meters away there is a factory, company or tourism facility that has the obligation to project itself towards the scene that surrounds it, in attention to the most urgent needs, and in search of untapped potential. Otherwise, there is no value in boasting regarding the excellence of economic results, if the social task is struck out.
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