The holes that are now expanding aggressively across the bay’s promenade are not just a problem for pedestrians, they’re a symbol of the city’s decay.
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Ciénfuegos, 26 July 2024 – The collision of the sea against the Ciénfuegos esplanade, along with too many years of neglect, has resulted in the continuing appearance of new holes in the surface of the promenade, as confirmed by 14ymedio this Thursday. The official press informed of this with alarm on Wednesday, by explaining that the sea has begun to “take back” its territory in Jagua Bay.
Built in the nineteenth century and based on the Havana Malecón model, the Ciénfuegos malecón (esplanade/promenade) lived through the town’s magnificent years which advanced with gigantic economical steps and Ciénfuegos was on the point of becoming one of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan cities in Cuba – if it hadn’t been for the sudden emergency stop that came about in the middle of the twentieth century, with the triumph of the Revolution.
The holes that are now expanding aggressively across the bay’s promenade are not just a problem for pedestrians, they’re a symbol of the city’s decay, and this is the manner in which the residents experience it – residents who have witnessed how, with the discontinuance of pavement-repairs, the potholes have begun to fill up with soft-drink and beer cans, along with other rubbish.
“This stretch of the esplanade has deteriorated a lot. People have complained to the government many times but they haven’t solved the problem, which gets worse over time and with the moisture and the rubbish which accumulates”, explains Orlando to 14ymedio – a health worker who passes this deteriorated part of Calle 37 opposite Radio Ciudad del Mar twice every
