Rosa, an elderly woman, with a fractured pelvis and contusions on her head, was run over by a motorbike driven at excessive speed and with deafening music. Eduardito, a baby who gets upset and cries relentlessly because of the noises generated from a carpentry shop near his home. Lourdes and Samuel, a middle-aged married couple of teachers, suffer from insomnia, high blood pressure and irritability, as a result of the music generated from a restaurant located on the ground floor of their home.
These and multiple stories take place in the daily life of Holguin, motivated by excessive noise at any time of the day or night, in urban areas or not. However, this is not a local problem, it transcends borders and is not recent.
The first international declaration that contemplated the consequences of noise on human health dates back to 1972, when the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to classify it as just another type of pollution. Although the recognition of noise as a health hazard is more recent and its effects are considered a health problem of notable importance.
In the 2017 Revista Médica Electron, Cuban experts agree with other international studies, pointing out that noise has very harmful effects on health, ranging from purely physiological disorders such as progressive hearing loss, to psychological effects, by producing irritation and fatigue that cause dysfunctions in daily life, both in work performance and in the relationship with others.
They add to the above sleep disturbance, stress, decreased concentration, headache, stomach problems, alteration of blood pressure and heart rate, depression of the immune system, alteration of endocrine secretion levels, vasoconstriction, mental problems, depressive states, among others.
The noise that causes noise pollution is not a problem that can go unnoticed, so its evaluation becomes the focus of attention, especially in the area of health, with the prediction of the harmful effects caused by noisy environments.
To deal with this problem, in our country there are legal instruments in which institutions and agencies of the central administration of the State are involved, responsible for this matter.
The Cuban constitutional text, in its Article 75, establishes that all people have the right to enjoy a healthy and balanced environment, as well as the approval of Law 150 of 2023, on the system of natural resources and the environment, which establishes the basic principles and norms that regulate the actions of the State, of citizens and society in general, to ensure the implementation and functioning of the system of natural resources and the environment.
Precisely in Law 150 of 2023, in chapter V: Noise, vibrations and other physical factors, in its article 83, it places responsibility on the agencies responsible for dealing with the negative impacts of noise, vibrations and other physical factors, among which the following are noted:
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The Ministry of Public Health, with regard to the effects on human health; (b) the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, with regard to the work environment; (c) the Ministry of the Interior, with respect to social indiscipline; (d) the councils of the municipal administration, with regard to compliance with the regulations of the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the National Institute of Territorial Planning and Urban Planning; and (e) the National Institute of Territorial Planning and Urban Planning, with regard to the location of productive and non-productive activities that generate noise. In the same way, there are other regulations that complement the previous ones, from which the problem of noise is taken into account, for example: Law 109 or Road Safety Code, in its article 102, paragraph 10. Added to the list are resolutions of competence of the Ministry of Health, Cuban Standard 26 of 2012, to the recently approved Decree Law 91 of 2024, referring to contraventions in the exercise of self-employment, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as non-agricultural cooperatives.
In each Cuban province, there is a working group belonging to the Hygienic, Sanitary and Environmental Quality Commission (HSCA), created by Presidential Decree No. 4 of December 11, 2012, from which the actions of the regulatory bodies in the prevention and confrontation of noise pollution are coordinated and integrated, based on diagnostic actions, prevention and control.
In an interview with M Sc. Geovani Zaldívar Martínez, sub-delegate for the Environment, in the Territorial Delegation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), assures that noise is a problem that deserves comprehensive attention, so it is systematically analyzed by the aforementioned Commission, directed to government agencies in the province and in which various agencies participate. among them, a representative of the Department of Environmental Policy of Citma.
Zaldívar says that recently in that commission, the problem of loud music on public roads, caused by motorbike drivers, was analyzed.
Resulting in actions by the Ministry of the Interior, in terms of warnings and impositions of fines, in addition to the reinforcement of surveillance in central places of the city.
The official emphasizes the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Health, through the Hygiene and Epidemiology entity, as a consultative and specialized body to carry out studies related to noise, through the technology it has, a piece of equipment called Sound Meter, unique in the province. Finally, it refers as a novelty of Law 150 of 2023, also known as the Law of Laws for the environment, the consideration of these incidents as an environmental crime.
The Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology attends to complaints resulting in actions by the Ministry of the Interior, in terms of warnings and impositions of fines, in addition to the reinforcement of surveillance in central places of the city.
The official emphasizes the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Health, through the Hygiene and Epidemiology entity, as a consultative and specialized body to carry out studies related to noise, through the technology it has, a piece of equipment called Sound Meter, unique in the province. Finally, it refers as a novelty of Law 150 of 2023, also known as the Law of Laws for the environment, the consideration of these incidents as an environmental crime.
The Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology attends to complaints In the Provincial Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology, according to Dr. Ramón Alberto Reyes Noris, head of the Department of Communal Hygiene, in the course of the year 11 complaints about noise have been reported and attended, 10 from the municipality of Holguin and one from Frank País. Of the 11 complaints, six were for noise from electric generators, three for loud music in recreational centers, one associated with the operation of a bakery on the ground floor of a house, and one for an air conditioner.
Regarding the above information, Dr. Gustavo Pérez Leyva, belonging to the Department of Communal Hygiene, and member of the Hygienic Sanitary and Environmental Quality Commission (HSCA) since its creation, assures that “the main nuisances caused by loud music in recreational centers are associated with non-compliance with the schedules established by the Cuban standard.”
Dr. Pérez points out that “today one of the sources of noise nuisance are some places of worship, due to the existence of sound equipment and musical groups in them.” It also mentions that some citizens report noises caused by private forms of management or self-employment, such as those generated by mechanic workshops, grille factories, bakeries, carpentry shops, as well as loud music from motorinas.
It is striking that, even when there are complaints filed with the entity authorized to study or diagnose the nuisance caused by noise, the problem has a greater scope and gets out of hand, since the manifestations of excessive noise swarm anywhere in the city, and also in municipalities of the province. In addition to passing with a certain impunity the indiscipline that, on public roads, not only generates motorinas, but other means of transport that contribute to noise pollution and put in danger but other means of transport that contribute to noise pollution and endanger the lives not only of drivers, but also of pedestrians.
Dr. Pérez explains that, “when a complaint or complaint is made about noise nuisance, with the exception of those caused by means of transport, since these are not within its competence, the place of origin of the complaint is visited, studies or at least five measurements are carried out and, if the study is positive for noise pollution, then they go to the place where the source that causes the pollution is located.”
According to the specialist, “through a model of sanitary diligence, the measures are dictated, which from that moment on are mandatory, among which are: the encapsulation of the source that generates noise, isolation of the source, placement of rubber chocks in the foundations (if it is an electric plant, in order not to cause vibrations) and placement of insulating material so that noise does not pass elsewhere, among other preventive actions.”
Organisational measures are also planned, including: the establishment of schedules, correction of the direction where the loudspeakers are focused, as well as the determination of working hours. According to the specialist, in case of non-compliance and the maintenance of the problem, there is the prerogative of imposing fines or reporting to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Dr. Pérez believes that “the rest of the agencies should carry out a greater work of confrontation, in consideration of the low perception of risk that the population has of noise for health, an issue that demands more educational actions, such as the dissemination made by the CubaVisión channel, of some spots dedicated to noise.”
Traffic warns about the lack of control of the driver.
Taking into consideration that motorbikes have become one of the noisiest sources that affect the tranquility of citizens, and that their treatment does not correspond to the Ministry of Public Health, it was necessary to know the criteria of the traffic authorities in the province. Its Second Chief in the province of Holguín, Nelson Ricardo Batista, First Traffic Officer, recognizes that “the strident music of the motorbikes, prevents the driver from achieving adequate concentration, and includes tricycles and cars, the latter in smaller quantities, in addition to combustion motorcycles in addition to high-cylinder internal combustion motorcycles that do not have a silencer and cause high noise levels.”
Ricardo recalls Law 109 or Road Safety Code and assures that, “behind a motorbike with loud music, in general, its driver does not have a driver’s license.” The officer says that there are many complaints from the population about the situation of the loud music of the motorinas, so they carry out confrontational actions that can reach the temporary occupation or confiscation of the music equipment and, in cases that warrant it, the retention of the means of transport or the complaint is made to the police units. Likewise, educational messages are disseminated, through talking cars, delivery of flyers or appearances in the mass media.
The Provincial Road Safety Commission
It was interesting to delve into this issue, from the point of view of the secretary of the Provincial Road Safety Commission (CPSV), Manuel Leyva González, who assures that “means of transport, generally motorbikes, are retained for a period of seven, 14 or 21 days, when it is detected that they are driven by people who do not have a driver’s license, varying the detention time according to the behavior and incidents of those involved.” To the above, he added that when these actions are carried out, the accident rate decreases, because they are the means that today contribute the highest number of accidents.
Without doubting the confrontational actions by the agents responsible for taking care of order on public roads, anywhere in the city or in peripheral neighborhoods, the existence of motorcyclists can be seen, who move or park with extremely loud music, sometimes near schools, health institutions or near homes and health centers.
In the Provincial Road Safety Commission, the number of minors who circulate on the road driving motorbikes is considered to be worrying. It is stated that the first action of importance is the protection of people’s lives, so the call for attention and confrontation by the authorities of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), the inspection groups and the provincial commissions is decisive, since indiscipline increases every day.
Leyva states that, “in the province between the months of January – September of this year, there were 484 traffic accidents, 52 less, compared to 2023, on a similar date. 515 injured, 33 less than in 2023. However, the number of deaths increased by two compared to the same stage in 2023, for a total of 50 in 2024.”
Although there is a discreet decrease in accidents, although the number of deaths is still regrettable, it is a fact that there is a need to reinforce preventive work and to confront the existence of vehicles, generally motorized, driven by people without a driver’s license. Added to this are nuisances due to noises that invade the tranquility and can be direct causes for the occurrence of accidents, an issue that deserves greater attention from the authorities in charge of its control.
In the research carried out on the subject related to excessive noise at any time of the day or night, in urban areas or not, it can be seen in two directions. One related to real estate and new forms of economic management or from self-employment, and the other, those related to the indiscipline that occurs on public roads, generally caused by motorcyclists when traveling with expo music.
The Municipal Directorate of Labour and Social Security
The investigation on this issue also motivated the investigation of other entities that, in one way or another, must have responsibility in the confrontation with environmental pollution caused by noise. From the Municipal Directorate of Labor and Social Security, Maité Hernández Peña, its director, informs us that, “in the validation of the work project for non-state forms of management, those who give the approval or opinion are the consultation bodies in charge according to the types of activity, in addition to the decisions made in this regard by the Board of Directors and the Municipal Assembly, through the city’s planning documents.”
The director of work recognizes that “before approving a business, there are difficulties in identifying the degree of inconvenience that it can cause to the people who are in its radius of action, because as they grow, their ways of operating are transformed, different from what was approved.” He adds that it is difficult to reach the more than 19 thousand self-employed workers that currently exist in the municipality.
The Municipal Inspection Directorate
For her part, comrade Liudmila Alfonso Font, a specialist in economic management, in the Directorate of Municipal Inspection (DIM), of the People’s Power of Holguín, proposes to know of repeated complaints for noise generation that, although they generate visits to self-employed workers to verify the alleged violation, in reality, according to her, “this type of problem is not found in the social purpose of her entity.”
In the case of INOTU, Muñoz points out that the corporate purpose corresponds to territorial planning, that is, to contribute to regulating the location of self-employment, whether in a home or elsewhere.
It is evident that, despite the work carried out by some institutions and the attention given by the different commissions at the government level, this issue must continue to be debated, in order to design more effective actions related to the confrontation of social indiscipline and illegalities.
In Cuba there is a wide body of rules established to determine from the permissible sound level to the control of unnecessary noise, according to the number of decibels that exist, taking into account the physiological, psychological and social damage they cause. In this direction, it must be a priority of the different institutions and of the citizenry, to demand its compliance, since it is a right endorsed in the Constitution and a civic duty.
It is evident that Holguin is a noisy city, in which it is not possible to carry out integrated and systematic intersectoral work, diluting the responsibilities between one institution and another, an issue that prevents carrying out preventive actions of impact, as well as the energetic application of legality in which violations and indiscipline related to noise are taken into account.
Translated by Radio Angulo
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