The old Holguín-Gibara railway station, one of the oldest railway terminals in Cuba, founded in the 19th century, today appears transformed into a dump for garbage and debris, as shown in a video recently shared on Facebook.
The material was shared by the user Ghabriel Pérez, a resident of the area known as the Cuban City of Parks, who explores the interior of the vessel and describes the desolate condition of the construction, which is in a state of complete abandonment.
The images show the interior of the building with the floor completely covered in trash, plastics, papers, and rubble, while the brick walls display dampness, soot, and graffiti, and the windows without glass reveal the outside vegetation.
The station was founded on April 4, 1893, on the grounds of Parque Mantilla, serving as the terminal for the line that connected Holguín with the coastal city of Gibara, along 30 kilometers of narrow gauge track.
According to Pérez's explanation in the video, the line operated until 1958, when it became inactive following the sabotage that occurred during the armed struggle between the army of then-dictator Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973) and the Rebel Army led by the later dictator Fidel Castro (1926-2016).
The Holguín-Gibara railway was also the only line in Cuba that featured a tunnel, carved out of solid rock at the entrance of Gibara, a fact that the video's author emphasizes by showing a painting that represents it.
The images shared on social media sparked a wave of reactions among users who recalled the various uses of the building over the past decades and lamented its current state.
Several commentators recalled the time when the building operated as a modeling and sculpture workshop, and later as an agricultural market, popularly known as the "Mercado Mambí," a space that for years was the hub for selling agricultural products in the area.
Some internet users expressed surprise at the level of deterioration reached by the facility. “Wasn’t that the famous Mambí market?” asked one user, while others pointed out that they still remember when the place was filled with stalls and shoppers. “I moved out of the area just a few years ago, but I can already see that not even the counters remain,” commented another resident.
The reactions also included criticism of the neglect of the property and the lack of initiatives to rescue it. Several participants believed that the building could serve other purposes if it were rehabilitated or handed over to new managers.
"They could give it to private individuals, and right away it would become a giant market," commented a user regarding the commercial potential of the space.
Other comments took on a more pessimistic tone, linking the deterioration of the old station with a broader perception of urban decay and loss of heritage in the city.
"Very sad, how much neglect in a construction with great architectural value," wrote one user, while another lamented that those who worked on the railway or frequented the site during its market phase "would not recognize what it has become."
Opinions agreed on highlighting the symbolic importance of the building, whose current condition many interpret as a reflection of the deterioration of historic infrastructures that have been part of daily life in Holguín for decades.
This Sunday, it was revealed that the sculpture known as "the woman with the parasol," the only decorative element remaining on the pedestrian boulevard in the city of Holguín, is at risk of falling due to the advanced deterioration of its base.
On Friday, residents demanded a systematic garbage collection due to the proliferation of improvised dumps in the Alcides Pino neighborhood.
In February, the profanation and abandonment of the municipal cemetery in Mayabe was reported, with broken niches and exposed skeletal remains.
In December 2025, a man was captured broad daylight and without any disguise, as he was tearing off a section of the metal fence that borders the stop on Aricochea Street, in the major general Julio Grave de Peralta park, better known as the Park of Flowers, in front of the telecentre Telecristal.
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