The Blaze in Matanzas “Can Make Tourists Stay Away”, an Economist Warns

MIAMI, United States. – Cuban economist Elías Amor has warned that the catastrophe generated by the explosions at the industrial zone in Matanzas could sink tourism in Cuba during the coming months.

The expert indicated on the blog Cubaeconomía that the blaze “can result in keeping tourists away from Cuba this summer, which would be a severe blow to the regime’s expectations of raising hard currency, which was the purpose of the currency exchange measures announced on August 4^th.”

“Tourists don’t like pollution, and even less to think that they will be threatened by a column of harmful gases,” explained the economist in a column published on Monday.

Elías Amor emphasized the environmental impact that this catastrophe has in a zone like Matanzas, which guarantees regular traffic of thousands of tourists in Varadero.

“It doesn’t look like this scenario will paralyze the country, but it is curious that in the midst of the devastation, Díaz-Canel cannot think of anything else than to request an immediate evaluation of the environmental impact that the column of smoke from the blaze could have,” added Amor.

For this expert, the Matanzas blaze will only allow the regime to shift the focus away from the antigovernment protests registered during the last few weeks. However, he made it clear that the island’s economy will attest to the blow that the loss of fuel entails.

“There are those who believe that everything that happens is inter-related, and that, aside from unusual atmospheric phenomena, it is the result of the regime’s ineptness and inability to get out of the vicious circle of their Communist economic and social model: blackouts, explosions, fires, tourism plummeting, less revenue, an economic debacle, social protests. For now, the blaze in Matanzas helps them shift everyone’s attention so that less is spoken about the rising discontent of the population,” the economist concluded.

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