More than a month after passage of hurricane Ianthat swept the west of the countrythe Cuban Government has as an urgent task to safeguard more than 6,000 tons of raw tobacco, part of which will be transferred to other provinces from Pinar del Río.
There, the local press recalls, of the 33,000 tons of sheets stored, 14,000 were damaged by the cyclone’s damage to the facilities. Now, says Emilio Triana Ordazgeneral director of the Agricultural Transport Company, which in turn belongs to Tabacuba, needs nine trains to carry around 3,000 tons to Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Cienfuegos.
“With the passage of the hurricane, most of our warehouses, warehouses and selected stores suffered damage. The tobacco was left under wax or polyethylene, not under a roof, so the mission is to move a considerable amount in and out of the province,” explained Triana Ordaz , revealing the urgency.
Saturday, Granma He published, from the mouth of the same official, that before Ian “it had been decided to send some 2,000 tons of the leaf to the central provinces, to speed up the benefit process.”
According to the provincial newspaper Guerrilla, each train holds about 300 tons and each one is filled in four days. “The operation is designed so that three are rotated: one filling up, one in progress and another unloading,” continued Triana Ordaz. If these plans are fulfilled, the authorities will take more than a month to complete the mission.
Another official of the state company, Vladimir Ríos Pérez, pointed out that they have around 4,800 tons “without benefit”, and that in Pinar del Río, they are going to keep about 1,600 “to fulfill the 2023 plan.”
They need nine trains to carry around 3,000 tons to Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Cienfuegos
In any case, they recognize that in San Juan and Martínez, where almost all of the warehouses collapsed“it is necessary to build 1,384 healing houses to guarantee the success of the campaign”, something that does not seem to happen soon.
Those responsible for Tabacuba also announced that they “readjusted” the plans and that they decided to postpone the campaign for another month, until January 30.
In addition, they report that the insurance has covered “80 million pesos and should cover 60 or 70 million more.” The damage to production, however, is significant: Pinar del Río tobacco, even unprocessed, is considered the best in the world, and its quality depends on the comprehensive care of the leaf and the skill of local farmers.
Meanwhile, this Thursday, Miguel Díaz-Canel revisited the area most affected by Hurricane Ian. It is the eighth time since the disaster that he does it, he refers the official presswhich includes a tweet from the presidency that ensures that the president visits Pinar del Río “every week.”
Despite the note’s usual triumphalist language, it is reported that most of the damage remains unrepaired. In the municipality of Guane, only 23% of the 3,450 “affectations” that occurred have been resolved. And only 400 of the 2,000 homes have been recovered in Sandino, one of the “captive towns” where hundreds of families linked to the escambray uprising.
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