Neighbors

Dozens of residents of the town of Carlos Rojas, in the province of Matanzas, protested this Wednesday in the streets for the lack of water. The residents of the town demanded the restitution of the service and criticized the negligence of the officials, according to statements by the opposition member Martha Beatriz Roque to 14 intervene.

According to the dissident, a former Black Spring prisoner, the water supply has been affected in the town for several days. Roque, who was able to speak by phone with the activist Annia Zamora, a resident of Carlos Rojas, explains that popular outrage has been growing in recent hours.

“In addition to the fact that we have been without water for days, now they want to take away the transformer because in Perico [un poblado cercano] there is no electricity and the head of the electrical company came to take it away to restore service there, but if they take it away then the affectation we have with the water will last much longer,” Zamora said in a call with the opposition member.

“They tell us lies and lies,” Zamora complains about the actions of the officials. In the recording of the call, to which this newspaper had access, the activist adds that together with the directors of the electric company and various Party officials, the Police have also arrived in the town “to intimidate” the residents.

“In addition to the fact that we have been without water for days, now they want to take away the transformer because there is no electricity in Perico”

“There are many people on the road, they are in front of their houses and in the streets, they are not going to move until they put the water on us and so that they do not take the transformer. The people are beautiful, not at all silent, they are yelling at them officials,” says Zamora. The attempts of this newspaper to contact the activist were unsuccessful, her cell phone was “turned off or outside the coverage area.”

The town of Carlos Rojas has a population of approximately 6,000 inhabitants and is located on the highway that connects the city of Cárdenas with the municipality of Jovellanos.

It is not the first time that the residents of the town have staged a protest demanding the restitution of the water service or the restoration of the electricity supply. In November 2020, they received several officials and soldiers shouting “Liars!”, after several hours of blackout.

“We are tired of lies,” warned then the activist and Lady in White, Sissi Abascal Zamora, Annia’s daughter, and currently in prison sentenced to six years in prison for painting ‘Patria y Vida’ on a sheet during the protests of the July 11, 2021.

“There are many people on the road, they are in front of their houses and in the streets, they are not going to move until they put the water on us and so that they do not take the transformer”

In those images, taken in the dark and only visible thanks to the light emitted by mobile phones, the officials were seen confused and overwhelmed by the avalanche of complaints and criticism of their management.

In September 2017 and after the passage of Hurricane Irma, the residents of the town also took to the streets demanding the repair of the power lines and a supply of food.

The town’s name is a tribute to the pro-independence general Carlos María Rojas Cruzat, who was elected mayor of Cárdenas during the Republican period. The community has traditionally been dedicated to the cultivation of sugarcane and livestock, which is why in recent years it has been greatly affected by the decline of the sugar industry on the island.

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