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The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla announced this Saturday that workers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) carried out fumigation efforts in the capital municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, following a request from the first secretary of the Communist Party and president Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Through his account on X, the head of Cuban diplomacy described the initiative as an example of the commitment to "revolutionary diplomacy," although the scene reflects the critical state of epidemiological control and the lack of specialized personnel to address the situation.
The action takes place during a time when Cuba is experiencing a severe epidemiological crisis, characterized by the high incidence of arboviral diseases such as chikungunya and dengue, along with other illnesses.
In this regard, health authorities have acknowledged that prevention against the transmitting mosquito has failed and there is an underreporting of unspecified febrile cases and individuals recovering.
Despite this, the hygienic and environmental crisis continues to spread in Havana, where illegal dumps, overflowing pits, and uncollected waste are proliferating in numerous neighborhoods.
Soldiers, officers, and civilian workers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) have been leading the garbage collection in the Cuban capital for weeks.
In early October, the diplomat Johana Tablada participated in a volunteer cleanup effort in Havana and posted images showing Minrex officials picking up litter on 31st Avenue in the Playa municipality.
The official then acknowledged that in her own neighborhood there was a dump that had not been collected for months and that the municipal services were not meeting the necessary frequency to maintain cleanliness.
This acknowledgment contrasted with his statements in August, when he downplayed the accumulation of waste in the city and claimed that Cuba “is not the country with the most trash in the world,” while attributing the visibility of the problem to independent media and U.S. policy.
Her subsequent participation in sanitation events provoked mixed reactions: some celebrated the initiative, while others pointed out that the solution cannot rely on occasional volunteer work but rather on the systematic fulfillment of state functions.
Despite the recurring complaints from residents, the authorities have insisted that the deterioration is primarily due to "social indiscipline," rather than structural failures in sanitation management.
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