Garbage collection truck suffers accident in Havana

A garbage collection truck belonging to the provincial directorate of Communal Services of Havana suffered an accident this Tuesday and ended up hitting a bridge, causing considerable damage to the cabin of the vehicle.

The event occurred on the access road to the Pan American Village in the capital for unknown reasons. The accident leaves a vehicle necessary for garbage collection out of circulation at a time when Havana's Communal Services are overwhelmed by the accumulation of garbage in the city's neighborhoods.

“Under the bridge that gives access to the Pan American Village. The truck invaded the other avenue in the opposite direction,” reported a user in the group of Facebook 'Bus & Truck Accidents'. A photograph uploaded by the author of the publication showed the truck stuck against the base of a bridge, with considerable damage to the cabin.

At the time of writing this note, the condition of the vehicle's occupants is unknown. Comments from Internet users in the publication indicated that at least two people had been taken to the hospital to treat injuries caused by the accident. Neither the authorities nor the official press echo the event.

Comments on social networks indicated that the cause of the accident could be related to a break in the steering system of the vehicle, which they identified with a truck from the Japanese manufacturer Hino, from donated by the government of that Asian country to the Cuban regime.

“They have put an end to HINO trucks, a donation from the Japanese government... They think they drive Ferraris, fast and furious...,” said one of the users in the aforementioned group. “Gentlemen, the truck's steering broke. Don't talk anymore without knowing,” explained another.

“I have read several comments and I had the misfortune of being standing at the entrance to the Naval Hospital when the two passengers of that truck arrived and what happened was due to the direction,” confirmed a third party.

“I was there when the accident happened. The truck left onto the opposite lane and still continued accelerating. I don't believe everything they say but, for me, something else happened there. “I was behind that truck when the accident happened,” said another Internet user in the comments.

Others blamed the accident on lack of maintenance. that receive these vehicles from state companies. "All those trucks were given away... Those cars need maintenance and inspection, but nobody cares about anything..."

“There is something inviolable for vehicles that are exposed to a work regime like garbage trucks and fucking streets (and some drivers)… Maintenance,” another user noted.

"One less. "With the amount of garbage there is in Cuba!" concluded another Cuban, lamenting the impact that the accident has on the reduced capacity of the capital's Community Services.

What happened to the 100 trucks donated to Havana by Japan?

Havana produces 23,000 cubic meters (m3) of garbage every day, but the Cuban regime only collects 68% of that urban waste.

That means that 32% (7,600 m3, equivalent to three Olympic swimming pools) remains at street level. The situation has turned the capital of Cuba into "a critical focus of health insecurity" due to the proliferation of rodents and mosquitoes, carriers of diseases such as dengue and leptospirosis, in addition to causing fires due to the production of methane gas.

This is what the report stated 'Havana, capital of waste', that the Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit (OCAC), advised by the ideas laboratory Cuba Siglo 21, after doing field work in the 15 municipalities of the capital.

In February 2018, Japan donated almost 10 million dollars to Cuba for the cleanup of Havana. The financial assistance from the Japanese Government was intended for the purchase of specialized cleaning equipment to "optimize the collection and final disposal of solid waste" in the capital, which celebrated its fifth centenary the following year.

The donation was made official during the visit to Cuba of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Masahisa Sato, who signed the agreement together with the first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) in Cuba, Antonio Luis Carricarte.

At the end of 2019, there were 141 collection trucks on the Island (one hundred of them donated by Japan). Last August, the governor of Havana, Yanet Hernandez Perez, assured that only 39% of the 440 garbage collection teams were working. The rest were missing tires, batteries and rims, among other spare parts.

To alleviate the lack of State resources, it was decided to apply fines of 4,000 pesos for throwing garbage out of the container or out of hours; from 3,500 to 4,500 for throwing solid waste (wood, debris, metals...) There were also 2,500 to 3,000 pesos for those who moved the containers.

However, these repressive measures have not managed to stop the generation of landfills in the streets, nor the appearance of fires in garbage dumps such as what happened in Lawton at the beginning of the year, when neighbors set fire to a landfill.

Interviewed by CyberCuba, Juan Antonio Blanco, president of Cuba Siglo 21, assured that on the island "the situation is caught with pins and needles" and "any detail out of control can cause a popular tsunami." And that happens, in his opinion, because the regime is suffering a deep crisis and cannot control 10 million Cubans.