Related videos:
The Cuban regime declared a "cleaning day" this Saturday and has mobilized recruits, police, and state workers amid the waste collection crisis affecting Havana.
The images of young people attempting to "clean up" a city flooded with trash seem straight out of a post-war scene.
“Political and mass organizations in the CMPCC, FMC, and CDR territory joined early on to participate in the massive volunteer work in the Colón Popular Council, alongside the soldiers of the Active Military Service, who, together with the community, engage in beautifying and cleaning the streets,” reads a post on the Facebook page of the Municipal Assembly of the People's Power of Centro Habana.
"With their green uniforms and a youth full of energy and commitment, they arrived in the area to transform the environment," they added in the kitschy tone of state propaganda.
This week, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment (CITMA), Armando Rodríguez Batista, publicly acknowledged the severity of the health crisis in the capital by admitting that “the trash is not contained: it is scattered all over Havana,” in a post published on his Facebook profile.
This is one of the most significant admissions made by a high-ranking official of the regime regarding a problem that people in Havana face daily: the accumulation of waste in streets, ditches, sidewalks, and empty lots, which recent rains have exacerbated to the point of becoming a multiple-risk phenomenon—"health, environmental, social, and spiritual."
In his publication, Rodríguez Batista pointed out that the recent rains have exposed "the mounds of garbage that, like silent witnesses of our inaction, had been piling up in corners, vacant lots, and edges."
The minister described how waste floats in the water, clings to the sidewalks, and mixes “with the mud and with life,” forcing us to confront a problem that, as he acknowledged, affects everyone and cannot be hidden.
The minister admitted that it is not enough to have trucks, brigades, and containers; rather, a structural change is needed that involves communities, institutions, and the citizenry as a whole.
He proposed to turn Havana into a "living laboratory for the transition to circularity," where waste can be recycled and utilized, instead of becoming hotspots for infection and urban decay.
A crisis that threatens lives
The official admission comes amid a context where citizen reports have shown images that seem straight out of a horror movie. In Centro Habana, a dilapidated building at the corner of Belascoaín and San Miguel has become an improvised dump, accumulating garbage and debris that threaten to bury passersby.
The drama even extends to hospitals. At the beginning of September, a video circulated on social media showing a gigantic dump next to the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, one of the most iconic healthcare facilities in Cuba, which activists described as an "open-air incubator for pathogens."
The accumulation of waste has also impacted hospitals in Mayabeque and Holguín, where overflowing containers remained for weeks near maternity and pediatric wards, endangering mothers, newborns, and hospitalized children.
Trash and Flooding: A Dangerous Cocktail
The collapse of waste collection worsens with each episode of heavy rain. Last week, torrential downpours turned the streets of Centro Habana, Diez de Octubre, and El Vedado into rivers of debris swept by the currents, while a citywide blackout left the area in darkness.
Residents shared images showing containers drifting along and contaminated waters entering doorways and homes, reflecting that the waste issue is not merely a matter of urban appearance but a direct threat to the health and safety of thousands of Havana residents.
In a country where authorities often downplay or gloss over structural problems, Armando Rodríguez Batista's words represent an unusual acknowledgment of the magnitude of the crisis.
"The waste hits us, forcing us as a country to confront a problem that affects many of us," wrote the minister, calling on institutions, universities, businesses, and communities to come together to reverse the collapse.
Meanwhile, Havana remains trapped among crumbling buildings transformed into dumping grounds, hospitals besieged by waste, neighborhoods flooded with garbage, and a population that survives amid mountains of refuse that grow day by day.
Filed under: