HAVANA — Residents of the Atabey neighborhood here are taking initiatives to grow food and, in the process, remove and recycle garbage that has been piling up in their community. The challenges they are addressing, faced by Cubans nationwide, are largely the result of Washington’s unrelenting drive, for more than six decades, to strangle Cuba’s working people and their socialist revolution.
During a recent trip to Cuba, several socialist workers from the U.S. and United Kingdom were invited to learn about the experience in Atabey, located in western Havana.
“We began this work more than a year ago,” Jover Araújo Gutiérrez told us. “Neighbors lent some land they weren’t using and we started producing compost there. On another plot nearby that was unused, we’re using the fertilizer for an ‘organopónico,’” an organic urban garden.
Residents see this as their contribution to confronting the shortage of imported fertilizer caused by U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba.
“We’re just in the initial stages, but over the past few months we’ve gotten good results growing vegetables — cucumber, lettuce, broccoli, garlic and parsley,” said Araújo, the director of the project. “We deliver the vegetables without charge to schools, elderly people and economically vulnerable households.”
Araújo, a self-employed carpenter, formerly a longtime factory worker, volunteers his time together with other residents when he’s not working his regular job.
On a Sunday afternoon we found a dozen residents working there. Some were filling small bags with enriched soil that will be used to plant “gandules” — pigeon peas, a good source of protein. José Jerónimo Estevez, a retired schoolteacher, pointed out a seedbed where they will soon be growing medicinal plants. Estevez is an elected representative of one of the local Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), a nationwide organization that involves people on a neighborhood level.
Roxana Hernández Quintana, a 24-year-old employee of Havana’s technical college, told us she is part of a group of some 20 young people, called “Future of Atabey,” who regularly volunteer Sundays to work on the project.
Ana Morales Valera, the elected delegate in Atabey to the local government, known as the People’s Power municipal assembly, has been a driving force in this initiative. The project is the product of many discussions and work by residents, including leaders of the Cuban Communist Party, the CDRs and other mass organizations.
The effort is backed by the IRIS Climate Foundation, a Cuban nonprofit group, and receives some funding from Cuba’s ministry of science, technology and environment.
Araújo explained that volunteers prepare the compost by putting twigs, leaves and small branches through a small pulping machine and combining the mush with manure, soil and water, to which they add earthworms.
Tackling trash buildup
As they involve the community to grow vegetables, Araújo and Morales said, they have also begun to tackle another challenge — the piles of uncollected trash that have mounted over the past couple of years.
This problem has afflicted residential neighborhoods across the city. The majority of Havana’s garbage trucks have been paralyzed by the lack of imported fuel and spare parts caused by Washington’s economic war on Cuba. Despite these shortages, the Cuban government has marshaled resources to improve trash collection, and in parts of Havana such as Vedado and Miramar, some of the unofficial refuse dumps that had mushroomed on residential blocks have been eliminated.
Atabey’s residents decided to salvage as much of the garbage as possible. “A large part of it is not garbage — we call it raw materials,” Araújo said. The organic debris is separated for use in making compost. Larger branches and tree trunks are taken to small industrial workshops to be used as fuel.
They also separate and sort nonorganic items to be sold to different recycling factories in Havana. “These plastic items can be turned into gasoline containers. Those are good for water and juice bottles,” Araújo said, pointing to two stacks. A neighbor has volunteered a shed in his front yard as temporary storage for these materials. “Members of the CDRs help collect raw materials like aluminum, glass, and plastic,” said Estevez, the CDR representative.
This recycling has greatly eased the work of the state employees who regularly come to trim tree branches, cut weeds and collect garbage. The unsightly, unhygienic piles of refuse in Atabey are largely gone. And residents feel a sense of pride in contributing to the cleanliness of their community. “We call our project ‘Atabey: Un Jardín sin Vertederos’” — A Garden Without Garbage Dumps, said Morales.
“If you see that your neighborhood isn’t being kept clean and there’s no solution in sight, it can have a demoralizing effect,” Araújo said. “But when we work together, we can find solutions. It shows that ‘Sí, se puede’ — yes, we can make a difference. And we also feel motivated because we have the full backing of our government.”
Morales, as a municipal People’s Power delegate, has been sharing the experiences of Atabey with delegates and residents of other nearby areas. “What we’re doing here shows what’s possible,” she said. “It’s what the Cuban Revolution is about.”