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Claudio Peláez Sordo

Claudio Peláez Sordo

Photo: Claudio Peláez Sordo

A Cuban fishing village where fish are not multiplying

Guasasa (“fruit fly” in Spanish) is a fishing village located to the South of the Zapata Swamp. People stopped calling it for its original name, Caleta la Guasa and gave it this new one. The road to Guasasa starts where the paved highway ends near the last tourist resort. Many miles away from there, there’s a community of fishermen, nice humble people who calmly wait for the next hurricane to shake the sea, because it’s good for the business - even if that also means that their fragile houses will have to endure the hit too. Some of these people also hunt, or grow food, but making a living has been getting harder and harder, as those activities are very unstable. For years, they’ve been waiting for the day when they can enjoy steady power supply 24 hours a day, but it’s still only 10. Every day they have more reasons to abandon the land where they born. The eldest don’t want to leave, because they think living conditions are better than they used to be, but younger people who grew up listening about the improvements in neighbouring towns like Playa Giron or Playa Larga, don’t think twice to leave...