Who collects the trash in Havana?

The images circulating on social media of Cuban cities turned into dump sites, some located at the doorstep of luxury hotels, have become a defining feature of the "zero option" scenario in which the Castro economy has been unfolding since the supply of Venezuelan oil began to decline. Havana is a prime example of this chaos.

Facing a devastating landscape that threatens with all kinds of diseases and respiratory conditions caused by the indiscriminate burning of garbage or daily contact with decay, the communist leaders have decided to see how they can address the thorny issue of solid waste collection in the capital. In a pamphlet in the newspaper Granma, it is stated, verbatim, that it “requires more organization and discipline.” In reality, it demands other things.

As always, the communist leaders spend more time talking about problems than solving them. Specifically, for this issue of garbage in Havana, what they have done is "identify 122 transfer points or temporary collection sites for urban solid waste currently undergoing certification by the relevant authorities." And from this recognition, "alternatives are being sought to improve the hygienic and environmental conditions of Havana." The fact is that, after such a lengthy statement, the garbage remains in the streets and no one comes to collect it. People are becoming desperate, and they no longer know what to do.

Thus, once those 122 transfer or temporary collection points for urban solid waste are "achieved," which are still claimed to be in the certification process by the relevant authorities (which could mean that a number of them may drop off the list), they are intended to provide "greater storage capacity and collection with alternative transportation, before being transferred to the final disposal site," according to Reynol García Moreira, vice governor of Havana.

The question is: haven't they had 67 years to carry out this essential identification work for efficient waste management in a major city? It seems not, and for the communist leaders, the topic of "transfer points" is so novel that it warranted nothing less than "an official visit by specialists from the ministries of Science, Technology and Environment, Public Health, Energy and Mines, the Interior, the National Institute of Territorial and Urban Planning, and the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, as well as by political and governmental authorities from the municipalities and popular councils, where they were able to exchange details about the proposal." Tell me if there aren't better ways to waste time, because garbage is still not being collected.

Someone from the Castroist delegation stated to Granma that “the main requirement to achieve this is the cooperation and participation of the population,” and so, what is being requested from the population? Well, as you might expect in these times, it's nothing less than “animal-drawn vehicles, routes, and maps indicating where the garbage should be collected,” focusing resources in East Havana or Boyeros. However, the leaders, in their search for “the points and the means, agree that the biggest challenge will be in Centro Habana, Old Havana, Plaza de la Revolución, Playa, and Diez de Octubre, which have very cosmopolitan areas with a high population density and solid waste.”

And of course, when it comes to assigning responsibility for the accumulation of garbage, Marrero knows exactly whom to blame. The waste in Havana is not collected due to "the worsening of the total blockade on fuel supplies to our country, which has increasingly impacted vital sectors for the population"; he adds that "life has led us to think and do things differently, to seek alternatives, to establish additional commitments even while being aware of the objective problems, as was called for in the 11th Plenary of the Central Committee of the Party." The question is, once again, the same: why wasn't there thought and action taken earlier? Issues as important as waste collection have been forgotten, neglected by the leaders, and now they want to "advance or generalize, in such an exceptional situation," which conceals quite a few difficulties.

And of course, since they have no idea how to implement effective measures, they resort to the same old refrain that "we cannot make progress in these initiatives without discipline, order, and control; we need to convey to the people the complexity of the moment and the necessity for everyone to get involved, for us all to move forward together." And of course, the garbage continues to go uncollected.

"Let's move forward," say the leaders, and we wonder: how? Well, the answer lies in "integrated community work," once again relying on the eternal communist shifts that deny rest on weekends. This is an idea from Esteban Lazo, who is always eager to uphold the failed orthodoxy of the regime to "act swiftly, turn every proposal into reality, and see them come to fruition." Even when there is a group of delegates at the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power who are relieved from their work duties, "to ensure a more permanent and effective contact with their constituents and to systematically address community concerns." That's another issue. It seems they want to turn some delegates into trash collectors.

The other solution is to turn ministerial bureaucrats into garbage collectors. Communist leaders acknowledge that the ministries lack fuel to support waste collection, but they have “the staff who can go to the municipalities to help, oversee, promote, and explain” although it is also considered that “the delegates alone will not solve the problem without serious work from the Administration Council, and without the functioning of mass organizations.”

There is no doubt that the Cuban communist regime is bloated in every respect, and adjustments will need to be made for it to function again. The solution is not to look for individuals “by name who are accountable for these issues” or to “awaken consciousness family by family.” This type of communist slogan has ceased to be useful to Cubans for quite some time. Things need to be done differently, and there is less and less time left. The true culprits are found much higher up in the hierarchical scale, and it seems they are unwilling to accept that.

In the same meeting mentioned by Granma, the administration councils identified 52 locations as intermediate points and established another 83 points across all facilities of the Recycling Business Group, designated for non-state management forms. One of the attendees' objectives was to promote the reorganization of raw material collection points in the municipalities to allow for greater storage capacity.

Private participation in waste collection and its relationship with the development of a circular economy, as well as the economic utilization of landfills—an activity that is highly profitable in most countries around the world—seems to be underdeveloped in the Castro economy, with no apparent intention from the leaders to promote it.

Basically, because here things often go in a different direction, as usual. The authorities believe that the priority is to reorganize the electric tricycles. They always pay attention to the media. Rosa María Reyes Santiesteban, the general director of the Raw Materials Recovery Company of Havana, already mentioned that “the 72 electric cargo tricycles were reorganized, with 30 of them allocated to the central municipalities to ensure the collection of recyclable waste on the main streets, and four electric towing tricycles were provided for the commercial fairs in La Güinera, La Cuevita, 100, and Boyeros.”

On the other hand, “38 electric tricycles and 18 combustion ones were allocated for the collection of non-state management forms and main streets in the other municipalities, which has resulted in an increase of 39 tons in the total amount of raw materials recovered in the last week.”

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, the first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Havana, described the situation as "very complex" and stated that "there are issues being addressed at the provincial level and with the municipalities, seeking the teams that can be most efficient based on transportation capacity."

The aim is to alleviate the accumulation of waste by informing the public that there will be two pickups per week; and, of course, this decision implies that the actual landfill will be moved closer to the homes where people live in overcrowded conditions. It’s getting worse and worse.

The lack of fuel prevents municipalities from receiving support from the ministries “that assist them in waste collection, urban solid waste, and therefore, each workplace in the area must also be more disciplined regarding waste disposal, as well as non-state management methods.” The situation organized by the communists could not be more complicated. Ministries providing waste collection services, workplaces that must discipline themselves with their waste of all kinds, similar demands on families, and non-state management methods. We fear that the worst concerning waste has not arrived yet, and that much worse scenes will be seen. Waste will continue to be on the streets of Havana.

And with things in this sea of confusion and uncertainty about what to do, the Vice Prime Minister, Inés María Chapman Waugh, steps in to say that "local authorities must adopt new work systems, and all state and non-state economic actors should be convened because when people are called together, they act differently. However, this needs to be done at the municipal level, and there is an important connection that must exist among all actors, which is not currently being addressed to tackle the issue of waste."

At this point, a matter of considerable importance was raised regarding the regulations for cleaning and waste collection, "which are not currently designed in the municipalities. Specifically, when these regulations exist, they indicate the time, when to put out the waste, and where it should be placed, so that people can follow that guideline." It seems incredible that such regulations do not exist or have not been developed. The neglect could not be greater.

So, from all this, what do the communists propose we should do? Don't get your hopes up; it's more of the same as always, which is just wasting time. And I quote: “Deepen the analysis of municipal experiences,” “strengthen territorial ordinances to ensure compliance with what is established,” “rally together, and we need to be in the streets gathering people, thinking about how to do more, how we can advance on these issues that are piling up today.” It is acknowledged that it is difficult, but it is assumed that no proposal “can be riddled with bureaucracy” because we must “do things quickly and involve the population.”

Trash will continue to accumulate in the streets of Havana.