Residents of the Lenin neighborhood in the city of Holguín report that the accumulation of garbage and the proliferation of mosquitoes are making adults and children ill amidst the outbreak of arboviral diseases affecting the province.
“Here’s what street 19 in the Lenin neighborhood looks like: the stench and the filth are disgusting,” wrote Holguin resident Yarisbel Matos García in the Facebook group Holguín Entérate, where she shared images and a complaint that has gone viral among the residents of the municipality.
The resident warned that elderly people and children in the building are sick, attributing the symptoms to the "large virus that is going around now" and the mosquito infestation in the area.
Holguín, which just a few years ago was considered one of the cleanest and best-maintained cities in Cuba, is now experiencing a noticeable decline in its hygiene and sanitary conditions, especially in peripheral neighborhoods such as the Lenin district—formerly known as Hechavarría—where solid waste collection is irregular or nonexistent.
The comments from other users reflect both nostalgia and alarm.
“For God’s sake, there will continue to be more viruses and strange diseases due to the amount of trash found throughout the country. They should burn all that garbage for safety,” warned Ana Almira, while others reminisced about the old name of the neighborhood and the time when the streets remained clean and passable.
The urban sanitation crisis, exacerbated by a lack of transportation and fuel for communal services, is compounded by the spread of dengue, chikungunya, and other infectious diseases, which residents already view as a public health issue.
In Havana, for example, the garbage collection remains problematic because sanitation campaigns are not sustainable in the long term.
Despite temporary efforts, the lack of a structural and sustainable plan, the scarcity of resources such as containers and trucks, and the deterioration of infrastructure hinder effective resolution of the problem.
In recent days, residents of the Mariana de la Torre neighborhood in the city of Santiago de Cuba decided to completely block Cristina Street with piles of garbage as a protest against the inaction of the state services of Comunales and the Electric Company.
The trash bins are also multiplying in the streets and public spaces of Las Tunas, Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Matanzas.
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