CubaPLUS Magazine

Now that a wave promoting economic development from small businesses is advancing in Cuba communities, including an agroecological project like the one called Ramaviva, located in the Las Catalinas community, Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Río, stands out as a promoter of a way of doing things that is closely linked to that purpose and even goes beyond it.

It can be said that Ramaviva, started about six years ago by history teacher Abel Durán Zaldívar, it does not advocate obtaining fruits of the earth at any cost. He does it in close communion with the life cycles of the thriving wild reality of those fertile and beautiful. With the use of permaculture methods, nourished by a philosophy of life not so much pantheistic, but transformative, active with the surrounding environment, Abel affirms that he did not intend dominate or defeat nature but learn from it and flow with all its processes when he decided to leave city life and settle in the wild environment.

And his life took an incredible, contributor turn . With notable results in productivity and the flourishing of the environment, numerous inhabitants have joined this effort that brought changes and work conceptions and life aimed at erasing the dichotomies between man and his natural environment, with results historically disastrous for the latter.

It is an impact that has surpassed the territorial limits of Las Catalinas and has reached different regions of the national geography from where visitors are received and courses are attended and consultancies given under the aegis of Ramaviva. Abel and his close collaborators promote the maximum use and reuse of materials, available resources, recycling and responsible consumption.

The preparation of fields, orchards and other places to be cultivated is enriched with the use of soil, organic components and non-invasive, climate-savvy techniques. This emerging project is also a great cultural and community project with multiple resonances. Ramaviva has promoted the teaching of English language courses, puppet performances, plastic arts classes, and numerous other initiatives accepted with great enthusiasm by children and young inhabitants of the environment.

But what excites everyone most is the cultural change and the way of life that it promotes, together with obtaining prosperity and productive successes, in the best harmony with nature. Very strong foundations for peace of mind and feelings of joy and happiness, so necessary to humans, according to its promoters.