The Northern Keys of Ciego de Ávila will be a territory reserved exclusively for tourism. A new norm prevents access to one of the most privileged areas of the Island to the common Cubans and establishes that this is limited “only for tourist activities with prior reservation or authorization from the Government of the territory; workers of the Zone and authorized personnel” .
The provision, published in the Official Gazette of the last friday november 4declares as an area with special regulations, of the type of economic development in the category of Territory of Preferred Tourist Use, the area that includes: Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Coco and the Antón Chico, Antón Grande, Romano and Paredón Grande keys, all belonging to the municipality of Morón.
The provision declares the area as a zone with special regulations, of the type of economic development in the category of Territory of Preferred Tourist Use
The declared objective is “to develop tourism activity, linked to the vocation of sun, beach, sailing and nature with a sustainable, harmonious and planned approach, aimed at promoting the productive chain and the development of the municipality, raising the quality of life of its population”, although from the content it is deduced that the residents will not be able to freely enter the area if they are not workers authorized by the Governor of the province, who is now empowered to issue the access request procedure.
In recent years, the Government has developed extensive regulations for the protection of areas that it considers strategic for tourism, protected by a 2015 decree law through which the Institute of Physical Planning proposes to the Council of Ministers the areas that receive differentiated treatment. based on environmental, historical, cultural, economic, defense, security and internal order interests.
In 2020, without going any further, 14 zones of this type were declared on the Cuban coast, but most of the regulations were aimed at controlling fishing or extraction of flora and fauna without authorization. A year later, in July 2021, they established another six in different municipalities of the Island. The harshest restrictions in those cases ranged from possible expropriations with housing compensation if the land was considered optimal for tourism or aesthetic limitations to preserve the environment.
Also this 2022 established Soroa in June and Playa Larga and Ciénaga de Zapata in July, territories with restrictions, one of which already pointed in this direction by requiring authorization from the authorities for personnel access to natural areas not defined as public use. But the prohibition of entry into the entire area without a permit had not yet been imposed in any of these zones, as it has been until now in Ciego de Ávila.
Only “the location of housing associated with golf and real estate development, motels for workers” is allowed in this area.
The standard developed for the northern keys contains a long series of regulations. Another one that stands out is that only “the location of homes associated with golf and real estate development, motels for workers and homes aimed at housing foreign specialists, linked to tourism, from basic means” is allowed in this area. .
Temporary camps may also be set up for personnel working in construction, administration and care of protected areas and security units.
The rest of the regulations basically address issues of energy saving, hygiene and safety measures, environmental protection and the conservation of native species, as well as attributing responsibility for compliance with each measure to the competent authorities or companies that manage the different activities. .
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