14ymedio, Mercedes García, Havana, 21 December 2023 — Although the issue has ceased to appear in the official press, the presence of the giant African snail continues to spread through Cuba, and the economic crisis makes it almost impossible to combat it, due to the lack of resources and fuel. In Sancti Spíritus, the plague wreaks havoc on agriculture and homes, according to sources from the Plant Health Research Institute (INISAV).
“Many people have forgotten about this animal, but we receive reports every day,” an INSAV employee in the province, who prefers anonymity, explains to 14ymedio. In Sancti Spíritus, the municipalities most affected by this species, considered one of the hundred most invasive in the world, are Cabaiguán, Taguasco and the provincial capital.
“We received a complaint that they saw the snails in one place, but we can’t do anything because we don’t have the resources. We’re not even going to check the level of infestation because we don’t have the necessary fuel to move within the province,” the worker emphasizes.
“Right now we are focusing on the School of Medicine, in the former Faculty of Nursing, which has a vacant lot between the houses and the buildings. That area is infested with snails,” he explains. “Specimens have even been found in the lime ovens on the outskirts of the city. They are everywhere, and nothing stops them.”
“We received the complaint that they saw the snails in one place, but we can’t do anything because we don’t have the resources; we’re not even going to check the level of infestation”
The expert sees a relationship between the flooding of the stream that borders the city of Sancti Spíritus and the spread of the plague. “If the water rises, the snails spread everywhere, so what se