{"id":2361,"date":"2016-01-15T11:53:29","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T11:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2016-01-15T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T11:53:29","slug":"the-eternal-return-of-garbage-in-havana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/the-eternal-return-of-garbage-in-havana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eternal Return of Garbage in Havana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Havana \r\n- Cristino Rojas does not go along the Buena Suerte street, hawking Delicia \r\nmayonnaise or Toki soft drinks. He got these products from his humble and risky \r\njob as a collector in a landfill in Havana. A lethal disease took him in less \r\nthan six months. While in the rest of the world the big markets throw out tons \r\nof food close to their expiration date, in Fidel Castro's Cuba the Government \r\nand the black market only pretend to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n

Distrust \r\nof buying groceries or toiletries increases in Havana. Wholesale products, which \r\nare often expired or close to expiration, escape from stores and warehouses, \r\nincluding clandestine copies or adulterations of those of greater consumption, \r\nlike coffee, rum and an immeasurable range of products. There are less and less \r\nproduct lines complying with the regulatory cycle in shelves of stores or \r\ncapital fairs. And as soon as they are dumped in the dunghills, they are \r\nrecycled by the so-called divers or garbage \r\ndiggers.<\/p>\n\n\n

The Routes of \u2018Dumping\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n

Everyone \r\nis reluctant to talk about dumping. This is what they call the unloading of each \r\ntruck with discarded products from state companies that arrive at the landfill, \r\nthe open-air garbage dump at Calle 100 y Ocho V\u00edas, created in 1976 in the south \r\nof Havana. It is an area of ??about 200 square meters (2152 square feet) \r\nadjoining the municipalities of the capital outskirts of Arroyo Naranjo, Cotorro \r\nand San Miguel del Padr\u00f3n, considered among the poorest and most polluted in the \r\ncapital.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

A \r\nregular visitor to the garbage dump, who remained anonymous - no photos or \r\nrecording -, says that they expect a shipment of meat from the Cuban-Spanish \r\ncompany Tauros. In combination with the landfill custodians, they first proceed \r\nto do as if they will burn the product and bury it in previously opened pits, a \r\nritual that takes place under the presence of the National Revolutionary Police \r\n(PNR). But the fire will be extinguished as soon as the authorities leave, and \r\nif the pits are covered with earth an excavator will be ready to dig up. Then \r\nthe meat will be reloaded in private transport. It will be redistributed in \r\nestablished clandestine circuits of the informal market.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

There, \r\nthe first offer of recycled garbage expands in the population, in closer \r\nneighborhoods or districts, such as Ojo de Agua, Parcelaci\u00f3n Moderna and San \r\nFrancisco de Paula. Naturally, depending on what appears as an offer, it can be \r\n\"marketed\" in any part of the capital. Cheap prices are more attractive for a \r\npopulation with low resources.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

In \r\nthe last week of December 2015, a batch of beans returned to the streets of \r\nHavana, specifically to the town of La Lira, south of the capital. The \r\nmerchandise was never incinerated in the landfill in Calle 100 y Ocho \r\nV\u00edas.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

\"Many \r\ncollectors made packages of red, black and white beans, as well as chickpeas. \r\nNothing was incinerated or buried,\" argued Alexis Monterrey, one of the haulers \r\nwho dump waste in Calle 100 y Ocho V\u00edas.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
As soon as they are dumped in the dunghills, they are recycled by the so-called divers or garbage diggers. Photo: Flickr\/Luis Guillermo Pineda Rodas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

\"The \r\ndumping happens every week, more than once, and with any type of merchandise, \r\nfrom parts and pieces of electronic equipment to personal care products. Here \r\neveryone joins the game. Everyone receives their money: the truck driver, we the \r\nloaders, and the custodians of the dump,\" says the anonymous witness.
The \r\nlandfill is arranged so that to throw and incinerate all kinds of remains, \r\nwithout classification. The waste comes from companies, hospitals and the \r\nresidential sector. Attracted by this way of earning a living, countless divers \r\nor waste collectors swarm and sometimes even live in the premises in makeshift \r\nshanties. They have been evicted by the police, but they \r\nreturn.<\/p>\n\n\n

From Indolence to Complicity<\/h2>\n\n\n

Poverty \r\nand ambition create new corruption pacts. They mixed the boundaries of the \r\nmajority state property and the black market, confusing them. They include \r\ngarbage and industrial waste, which make up real \r\nbottlenecks.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Garbage \r\nis already part of the city's environment. The growing stacks in the corners are \r\nraised with alarm by both official and independent newspapers. The accumulation \r\noccurs even by local regulation. The inhabitants of La Prosperidad, in the San \r\nMiguel del Padr\u00f3n municipality, have to accumulate their own waste for over 20 \r\ndays.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

On \r\nJanuary 1, 2016, the official newspaper Granma published in the section \u201cCartas \r\na la Direcci\u00f3n\u201d (Letters to the Directorate) the complaint of a citizen about a \r\nnew spontaneous landfill. Since a year ago, garbage accumulates on Avenida 255, \r\nbetween 44 and 46, Punta Brava, La Lisa municipality, in the \r\ncapital.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

However, \r\nArmando Fern\u00e1ndez, a sexagenarian of San Jos\u00e9 residential neighborhood in the \r\nMayabeque municipality, puts the same thing into practice, but for convenience. \r\nAs he trades in recycling, he fills all the rooms in his home with collected \r\nwaste.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

But \r\nthe reality of the waste circuit is still much more complex. Sometimes expired \r\nproducts do not even arrive at the landfills.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

At \r\naround five in the afternoon of last December 23, three employees of Comunales \r\n(a garbage collection state company) opened in the Pando Ferrer hospital the \r\nboxes and nylon bags that this institution disposes of to recycle bottles and \r\nmedical instruments. This is corroborated by a video taken by Cuban journalist \r\nLaura Paz, a contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting \r\n(IWPR).<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

Another \r\ncase reported was the sale of mayonnaise and synthetic soft drinks with expired \r\ndate labels in La Prosperidad neighborhood, San Miguel del Padr\u00f3n municipality, \r\nin March 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t

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