A Cuban woman identified as @briana_matancera on the social media platform TikTok reported the critical state of sanitation that her community members are facing, showcasing streets filled with garbage, overflowing pits, and a collapsed garbage dump right next to a school. In the video, filmed in the public thoroughfare, the young woman explains that the accumulation of waste has reached alarming levels and that the Community Services have done nothing to address it. “This is what the streets of Cuba look like today, dirtier every day, and the garbage dumps overflowing, which is really shameful,” she lamented, visibly outraged.
The situation, as described, not only generates unbearable odors and an increase in vectors but also poses a real risk to the health of the children attending the nearby school. In the absence of institutional responses, it has been the residents themselves who, on their own initiative, organized to clean the area, aware of what falling ill can mean in a country without medicine or basic hospital conditions: “We have to preserve our health because, given that there are no medicines in the hospitals, we cannot afford the luxury of getting sick”
The complaint sparked a wave of reactions on social media, with messages of concern, solidarity, and strong criticism directed at the Cuban government. "I can’t bear to see these things anymore because it breaks my heart to think there are human beings suffering there," wrote a user. Others pointed out that the problem stems from a lack of resources, such as garbage trucks or fuel, but the majority directly blame state inaction. "They don’t even bother to provide a service that is their duty to offer. A sad situation," commented another user, while some questioned the very existence of a waste management system on the island.
This testimony adds to a long string of public complaints about the garbage crisis in Cuba. Broadcaster Laritza Camacho recently raised concerns about the health and ecological impact of the issue, describing the heaps of waste accumulating unchecked as “mountains of garbage,” and proposed solutions through entrepreneurship and civic participation. In Matanzas, a young mother demonstrated on social media how flies and mosquitoes invade nearby homes close to a chronic dump. In Santiago de Cuba, the old Hotel Venus has been turned into a dump due to a lack of state management, in the midst of neglecting architectural heritage. And in Vedado, Havana, residents have reported the proliferation of unsanitary spots even near the Institute of Hematology and Immunology, which has led to rodent infestations and concerns about a potential larger health crisis.
The accumulation of waste in residential and central areas, as also alerted by residents of Vedado in anticipation of the hurricane season, has become a constant threat. Meanwhile, citizens continue to take on responsibilities that are not theirs to protect themselves from urban decay and the direct impact on their health and that of their families.
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