Although it did not suffer the rains of Hurricane Melissa nor the catastrophic floods that flooded part of eastern Cuba, the Havana Sports Casino has its own “floods.”
It is not the waters of the Cauto and its tributaries, increased by the cyclone, that run through the streets of this residential area of the Cerro. They are others, black and stinking for the most part, that are poured and bogged down there since months ago without anything changing despite citizen complaints.
And, furthermore, they do so while the city and all of Cuba are suffering an epidemiological and health crisis due to the unchecked spread of chikungunya, dengue and other diseases.
There have been many criticisms and accusations from residents. Nor have there been a lack—as is usually the case—of promises of a solution. But time has continued to pass and the waters have not stopped gushing from manholes and sewers, and enveloping the area with their pestilence.
In its path, silt and grass grow, garbage is dragged and accumulated, the environment becomes unsightly and it also becomes more dangerous for health. As if it were a river, people cross on stones or boards, while they continue waiting fruitlessly for a definitive settlement.
Many avoid the waters that flood the streets, others venture to cross them where they can when there is no other option. Some take the liquid where it comes out clean and then become cloudy along the way. In many places, the blackened overflow is a threat.
Mosquitoes and other vectors appreciate the apathy and get sick without distinction of age. He government push to clean up Havana seems to have cooled down, while the official figures of those suffering from chikungunya and other arboviruses fall short of the very complex reality.
With the undoubtedly logical priority placed on recovery efforts in the eastern zone, the current health panorama—with families and entire communities devastated by the viruses that are spreading across the island—is of great concern to specialists and the population in general.
It was just announced the start of a clinical trial for the treatment of residual polyarthritis in chikungunya convalescents, while authorities talk about strengthening epidemiological surveillance. However, without systematic sanitation it will not be possible to move forward.
Meanwhile, the Sports Casino continues to suffer its “floods” without rain or swollen rivers and seeing the risk that this implies for its residents, as confirmed on site the photojournalist Otmaro Rodríguez.
