It sharpens conflict among residents of Municipal District of La Cubaby Pedro Brand, and the company Oakhouse Landfill that intends to install a solid waste recycling plant, which the community rejects due to the environmental damage it would cause to that area that they consider ecotourism.
The divergence began in 2021 when the company supposedly tried to consult the community for the project in the town of El Aguacate, which immediately opposed it, but it was in 2023 when, unanimously, the residents carried out a public view and agreed to reject the intentions and the project.
Since then, the community has expressed its refusal to the work through various means and the most recent activity was a march last Sunday in which hundreds of residents of the town participated, made up of around five thousand people.
Fabio Correapresident of the Development Board of Cuba and coordinator of the Los Vencedores Movement, of the municipal district of Cubaexplained that in principle the Ministry of Environment rejected the project and denied the environmental license, but the project owners filed an appeal with the Superior Administrative Court which orders the authorities to reevaluate their rejection decision.
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“We are practically unaware of the legal status of the project because the Ministry of the Environment has flatly refused to receive us, the minister even gave us an appointment at one point and when we were going there half an hour before the appointment was revoked and until then it has not been possible to meet with the minister or receive any information,” Correa said.
The rejection of the project is based on the fact that, in the place where the recycling plant is to be built, of some 1,500 tasks, three are born aquifer sources: Arroyo Fermin, Grunela Stream and Arroyo La Pana or Los Macos, which are tributaries of the El Higüero and Isabela rivers.
Furthermore, they are opposed because the area is considered to have an ecotourism vocation due to the amount of villas and estates there is and because the community cannot support the circulation of 500 trucks which is understood to enter and exit the plant.
Hilaria Perdomopresident of the Neighborhood Council and the Neighborhood Council Association of Cubasaid that the company Oakhouse Landfill has tried to find supporters to support the project by making offers of jobs, housing improvements and other gifts.
“They are people who live in communities that are a little far from us, with many economic limitations and I understand that in their condition they were practically used in their good faith, because, perhaps due to ignorance, as they wanted to do with many of us and with myself, telling us that it is a recycling plant and that it would not affect our community in any way,” said the leader.
The warning
He warned that in Cuba a landfill will not be installed as intended and that they are depleting the peaceful processesso he called the president Luis Abinader and to the minister of Environment to listen to them to avoid bigger problems.
Ricardo Monteroleader of the Matua Neighborhood Council, said that they are aware that a recycling plant or a landfill in the place will affect life and environmentso they remain on the fight against the project.
He maintained that they are a community founded more than 100 years ago, calm, hard-working where crime and delinquency are very low, so they will not allow anyone to alter that. peace condition where they have lived for years.
The municipal authority
Carlos Monterodirector of the La Cuba Municipal Boardindicated that as a municipal authority they also oppose the project and support community actions such as the march that took place on Sunday.
“We have clearly stated and asked the businessmen to look for another place, to check another place, where to carry out this project other than the municipal district of Cubabecause we are also very clear that at trash We have to find a solution, but this is not the right place,” said the mayor.
He stated that instead of building a landfill or a recycling plant on the site, what the community wants is a housing project that allows many people who live in poor conditions to have access to a decent housingso it caught the attention of the president Luis Abinader and the minister of Environment for the end conflict once and for all.
Those who support
Other community members agree with the installation of the plant recycling claiming that will generate jobs. They affirm that they want the progress of the community and denied that it is a landfill, but rather a recycling plant.
They assured that environmental studies They support the project because, allegedly, its operation would not represent risks to the community and its environment.
