The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has blamed this Wednesday the “grave” water shortage on the island on deep “structural problems” and on the energy crisis, which, as he has emphasized, is linked to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on the Caribbean country.
“The country’s water problem is real, it is serious and it is complex, and it is not solved with either a speech or a single measure. It is a problem that first has structural roots, networks with decades of exploitation, investments that we have not been able to make to the magnitude that was needed,” he has stated in statements to the radio station Criterio Compartido.
Along these lines, he has insisted that the blockade “moves possible solutions related to the importation of equipment, means and resources away for the investments and maintenance work that are necessary.” Immediately after, he has stressed that “we do not have fuel to pump and, in addition to that, we do not have all the fuel to generate electricity, and there is no one to distribute water without electricity generation. I mean, they are two major problems.”
The Cuban leader has pointed out that most of the pumping stations depend on electrical supply and has warned that the “prolonged blackouts prevent water pumping, a problem that hits hard” on the population, thus worsening the shortage in numerous territories.
When addressing possible solutions, he indicated that one of the Government’s priorities is “to use renewable energy sources for pumping,” although he has acknowledged that this alternative “will be delayed,” since “it requires large investments” and medium- and long-term planning.
Díaz-Canel has also referred to the deterioration of the country’s water network, the increase in resource theft and vandalism against infrastructure, phenomena that, he has pointed out, intensify in the current context of crisis. Likewise, he has alluded to the lack of institutional response to the complaints and claims of citizens, who see how the water supply situation continues to worsen.