The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 June 2024 — Where there was hygiene, sewage remains. Those who walk in front of the Héroes del Moncada University Polyclinic on 23 Street, between A and B, in El Vedado, Havana, have been repeating the same ritual for days: go down the sidewalk, take risks among traffic on the avenue and avoid a spill through which flows waste from the health center’s bathrooms. The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors.
“At first, the stench didn’t let us live, but now I don’t even feel it,” admits a neighbor from A, where a dark river with greenish chunks drains downhill, carrying waste from the Public Health Department. “Children can no longer play on the sidewalk, and in many houses, people have had to put damp blankets with bleach by the door to clean their shoes before entering.” The grass in the nearest flowerbeds has grown “fed” by the sewage and a trash can seems about to float in the dark lake that has formed around it.
The disgusti