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Monday, October 14, 2013

The Diana Buses Are Already Broken Down

The Diana Buses Are Already Broken Down / Roberto Quinones Haces
Posted on October 13, 2013

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, October 7, 2013, Roberto Quiñones Haces/
www.cubanet.org – I've seen them circulating and and I remember that on
a news broadcast on National Television they talked about them. They are
called "Diana" and from last September, eight of them have to been to
Guantanamo to improve public transport.

The new buses bear a lot of resemblance to those mid-sized "Girón"
buses, which were also assembled in the Evelio Prieto plant in Havana,
and dedicated primarily to student and intercity transport. According to
a report from the journalist Raciel Sayú Font on the weekly "Venceremos"
(We Shall Overcome) broadcast, put on by the provincial committee of the
only Party, the vehicles have a capacity of 42 passengers, 28 seated and
12 standing, although the reader will see that this adds up to 40, not
42 as stated by the journalist.

The vehicle body is Brazilian, the diesel engine is Chinese, and the
rest of the components come from Russia. The journalist said that
Rodolfo Labadies Limedux, a transportation specialist at the Transport
Agency, said that the vehicles passed technical reviews and met the
quality and safety standards, but that they were out of service due to
breakdowns, according to the report.

The information could not be published earlier because provincial and
municipal transportation officials refused to provide details to this
newspaper. The journalist is careful in mentioning names, but beyond
identifying those responsible, it is obvious that the event shows
although hundreds of Cuban Journalist Union (UPEC) congresses have
called for an end to secrecy, those who have the last say are not
exactly the journalists.

At least, as long as the buses in good condition keep circulating,
Guantanamo's residents will have two routes that have been reestablished
after having been out of service for fifteen years. The route crosses
the city from south to north and vice versa, but now it costs a peso
each way, instead of the usual twenty centavos.

These buses represent a transportation alternative to the horse-drawn
carriages, a private service that has helped people a lot in recent
years but that dirties the city contaminates it. To completely remove
the horses, the coachmen and all they leave behind, with the displeasure
and dangers this service carries with it, Guantanamo needs a great many
more Diana buses and, above all, for them not to breakdown prematurely.

Roberto Jesús Quiñones Haces

From Cubanet, 8 October 2013

Spanish post
10 October 2013

Source: "The Diana Buses Are Already Broken Down / Roberto Quinones
Haces | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-diana-buses-are-already-broken-down-roberto-quinones-haces/

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