Tons of garbage accumulate in the streets of Havana

Tons of garbage on the streets of Havana they are waiting to be picked up by the communal services of the capital of Cuba.

This is what he denounced in hissocial networks the official journalistLazaro Manuel Alonso, ensuring that the issue is a “dilemma” for the authorities and a “reality” present in many Havana neighborhoods.

“Garbage has become a dilemma in recent months in Havana. Tons of waste waiting to be collected are the reality of many neighborhoods in the Cuban capital. Because? We are looking for answers for a report on Canal Caribe,” said the head of Cuban Television's information services.

At the end of August, the prime ministerManuel Marrero Cruz He said that "the responsibility for sanitizing the city belongs to everyone," when evaluating various government issues at a meeting in Havana, which also discussed the collection of solid waste in Havana.

According to calculations by the capital's authorities, the total amount of solid waste generated in Havana daily reaches 23,814 m3, of which 69% corresponds to the activity of services and household waste, and 31% to debris and others.

The high number of inhabitants and floating population, added to the 73 hospital facilities, the 557 large industries, as well as the 87,991 self-employed workers and the 3,592 MSMEs, is the “cause” that waste accumulates in the capital, as explained the governor of Havana,Yanet Hernandez Perez, to the official mediaHavana Tribune.

"Of the 440 pieces of equipment that the communal services have, 174 continue to work, and the technical availability coefficient is at 40% due to lack of tires, batteries, rims... The unfavorable situation of the provincial hygiene company that Its 29 collectors have 11 paralyzed," Hernández Pérez detailed last August about the garbage trucks.

In mid-September, the Havana government approved a Regulation for Decoration, Hygiene and Communal Services by whichastronomical fines for throwing garbage out of containers, parking animals in the urban area and having leaks in the fittings of the houses.

Resolution 190 of 2023 indicates that they will be punished withup to 3,000 pesos for those who throw waste outside the deposits and at established times, or to those who without being authorized change the location of the containers located on public roads.

Those who throw debris, wood, metals or other inappropriate objects into the containers will also receive fines between 3,500 and 4,000 pesos, such as waste from production, commerce, gastronomy and food services for which other collection systems are established. "after contracting the service with the Company."

At the end of that month, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (ICLEP) denounced thatA 74-year-old Cuban woman and her granddaughter survived by searching for plastic in the trash in the city of Sancti Spíritus, an increasingly frequent image in Cuba and also in its capital.

According to the ICLEP complaint, the woman and her granddaughter, who from the photo appeared to be a teenager, were dedicated to looking for plastics and other objects to then sell them in raw materials stores and get some money to feed themselves.

In September, the Cuban oppositionSilverio Portal reported the case ofa humble Cuban grandmother who dedicated herself to searching for clothes in garbage containers from Havana, and to which the old woman told that what she got was to help a friend who had lost all her belongings.

Recently,a newborn baby was found dead in a garbage tank in Old Havana. The sad discovery took place around 10 in the morning in the San Isidro neighborhood, according to reports on social networks.

There are countless complaints from Havana residents on social networks, complaining about the numerous garbage dumps that proliferate in their streets, a situation that has worsened the epidemiological situation on previous occasions and generates discomfort among its residents.