The National District City Government (ADN) reported on 2 September 2019 that a clean-up operation was carried out that day in Little Haiti. Little Haiti is located adjacent to the Mercado Modelo, the city’s main arts and craft market. The city government responded to a news report in El Caribe. The newspaper called attention to complaints of Mercado Modelo merchants to the long-standing negligence of the city government and the Ministry of Public Health to the chaotic city area.
The city government reported that the director of Urban Cleaning of the National District Council, José Miguel Cabrera led the clean up operation. Cabrera said men were sent in “to correct years of neglect in this important area of the city”.
Cabrera asked the residents of the area to collaborate and not throw garbage into the streets. He said this causes the scuppers and filters of the aqueduct system to collapse.
The clean up included the collection of garbage, the patching of the streets, cleaning of containers and sewers, among other actions, using a variety of heavy equipment.
“The objective is to leave this area free of garbage, debris and accumulated sewage, which endanger the health of the inhabitants of the sector and the people who come to do their shopping,” said Cabrera.
The National District Fire Department also participated in the clean up.
Little Haiti is in the San Carlos sector, just behind the Mercado Modelo, between Benito González Street and the Santo Domingo Fire Department. Haitian nationals who traded there, later stayed to live there, giving the area its name.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
3 September 2019