The ’Río Júcaro’ and ’Río Las Casas’ ferries have reached the limit of their “water periods”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 August 2024 — “Is the Isle of Youth isolated?” The question of Cuba’s Minister of Transport this Wednesday, more than doubt, sounded like a joke. The situation, however, is serious, and Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila himself diagnosed it: the plane that covers the Havana-New Girona route is out of service due to technical problems; the Río Júcaro and Río Las Casas ferries – used in the Batabanó-Nueva Gerona-Cayo Largo del Sur circuit – are under repair, and the Perseverancia ferry, the only one that operates, is overexploited.
The panorama is that of an imminent collapse, and Rodríguez Dávila recognized it on his very active Facebook profile. In his message, he pointed out that the ferries have already been operating for more than 20 years and have reached the limit of their “water periods” – the normal life of a boat – with a serious lack of maintenance. The fault, he justified, is “the timely unavailability of convertible currencies for the acquisition of materials, inputs and basic pieces.”
Currently, he said, work is going at full speed on the repair of the Río Las Casas ferry, which went out of service on August 10, and, “if it is restored, it could return to the traffic with limitations.” The situation is even more complex, because only when they finish fixing this boat can the work on the Río Júcaro begin.
The panorama is one of imminent collapse, and Rodríguez Dávila recognizes it on his very active Facebo