Neighbors speak out after collapse in Havana: "It was bound to happen at any moment"

In Old Havana, collapses have occurred again due to the precarious state of the majority of buildings in the municipality, a situation worsened by the recent rains in the Cuban capital.

The most recent of them was partial and occurred on the night of last Tuesday, June 18th, in a building located on Monte Street between Águila and Ángeles, with one person injured, who had to be taken to a hospital.

A local neighbor told Martí Noticias that "it was something foreseeable due to the terrible state of the buildings on the block... A balcony had already collapsed and there was a part propped up there."

Another Cuban, also a resident of the area, assured the mentioned media outlet that at 62 years old, "for as long as I can remember, that building has been declared uninhabitable. We sent letters, but never received a response, nor did anything happen. We knew that the worst could happen at any moment."

The same person, days earlier, had suffered the collapse of a part of their building located at San Ignacio #214, between Lamparilla and Obrapía, as reported by Martí Noticias.

He said there was no major damage because they noticed the fall of sand in the hallway since the morning. "My husband and I were not at home. When he arrived, he entered and after 3 minutes, the hallway collapsed," he recounted.

The response from government authorities was that the place "had been declared for demolition... but there are no shelters." However, "they asked us to find somewhere else to go," he commented.

The rains bring many worries for Cubans who live in extremely insecure housing conditions.

Recently, it was reported that a building located at 64 Tenerife Street, between Antón Recio and Figuras, in the Los Sitios neighborhood, Central Havana, is on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

An internet user accused the government of Centro Habana -which is located on the corner of Reina and Ángeles-, whose officials have never addressed the complaints of those neighbors who have been living among ruins for 55 years.