Jorge Luis Merencio Cautín

THIRTY modest men from rural communities in the municipalities of Imías and Baracoa are responsible for the important task of maintaining one of the seven marvels of Cuban engineering, the majestic La Farola highway.

Wilfredo, Herminio, Luis, Domingo, Hermis, are among those who, with justifiable pride, keep open the road, which remains, 46 years after its initial construction, one of the most impressive of its kind, given its complex and scenic route through the Sagua-Baracoa mountains.

The maintenance workers are organized into three brigades, two within the municipality of Imías and one in Baracoa, according to Herminio Gamboa Martínez, the leader of one of the groups in Imías.

A resident of Veguita del Sur, Herminio explained that his team is responsible for maintaining the 14 kilometers between the community of Cajobabo and Alto de Emilita, while the other group takes care of the stretch between Alto de Emilita and Alto de Marañón. The section between this point and Paso de Cuba is maintained by the third group.

This is where, broadly considered, the highway ends. The six kilometers between Las Guásimas and the overlook at Alto de Cotilla officially constitute the viaduct, which required truly creative engineering solutions, as evidenced by a plaque over the cliff, held by heavy pillars fitted into the rock and high quality cement beams.

In their efforts to keep this masterful work in good condition, and traffic flowing, the teams – part of the Guantánamo Road Maintenance and Construction Enterprise – complete three basic tasks: sweeping the pavement, cleaning ditches and drains, plus maintaining the bridges, which entails painting, repairing side-rails and removal of rubble.

Other tasks include the repair of cracks and joints in the pavement, mowing the edge of the road, pruning trees and hedges, hauling supplies, painting pillars and side-rails and the removal of small landslides. Larger volumes of rock and earth left by landslides are removed with heavy equipment supplied by the municipalities’ construction enterprises, according to Ermis Ramírez Ramírez, who, despite his 61 years of age, is the most outstanding worker on the brigade led by Herminio.

"For those of us who live along the highway, it’s our lifeline, and for those who live in Baracoa, as well. That’s why we make a great effort to maintain it," said

Wilfredo Samón Samón, a member of the second Imías brigade and a resident of El Chorrito, where work on La Farola began and the site of the first maintenance brigade’s camp, between the 1960’s and 1990’s.

Wilfredo has every reason to love the steep, winding road since almost 96% of the people entering and leaving Baracoa travel along this route and close to 83% of merchandise, figures which reflect the social and economic importance of the engineering feat, which had been promised for years by the pseudo-Republic and made a reality by the Revolution.

Elio González Rodríguez, assistant director of the Guantánamo Road Maintenance and Construction Enterprise, when asked about the three brigades, commented that despite limited resources, the workers had been supplied boots, work clothes, machetes, files, shovels, hoes, carts and even a tractor to fill potholes, although most of the work is done manually. This last year, salaries were increased as well, he indicated.