The Cuban activist Silverio Portal posted a video on Facebook denouncing the massive accumulation of garbage on San Nicolás street, behind the iconic store La Época, located at the corner of Galiano and Neptuno, in the heart of Centro Habana.
Filmed at the intersection of Neptuno and San Nicolás, Portal illustrates how waste is progressively covering the entire block, with a warning that summarizes the seriousness of the issue: only two meters or less are left to completely close off the block.
The activist pointed directly at the surveillance cameras installed in the area, emphasizing that he is not hiding while making his complaint. "I reported this once before, and I have reported it again, but now it has gone too far; the street is becoming covered with garbage, and this is total waste," he stated.
Portal linked the waste crisis to the systemic failure of the Cuban regime. "What I mean to say is that there is no way to control the situation on the island of Cuba. Why? Because the way of life imposed on the Cuban people for many years up to the present has never had an economy," he stated before the camera.
The complaint is not an isolated incident. The store La Época, inaugurated in its modern building in 1952 and expropriated by the Cuban state in 1960, reopened in April 2021 as a store in Convertible Currency, becoming one of the most controversial businesses in the capital. Today, the back street that runs parallel to its building reflects the urban decay that afflicts all of Havana.
The waste collection crisis in the capital is structural. In February 2026, only 44 of the 106 available collection trucks were operational due to a lack of fuel, while the city generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters daily of solid waste, a figure that far exceeds the capacity of the system.
In response to the inaction of the State, residents have resorted to burning the accumulated garbage, a practice that has spread to multiple municipalities: Regla, Diez de Octubre, Lawton, San Miguel del Padrón, and Puentes Grandes. The government converted the Metropolitan Park into a burning site, located just fifty meters from the Clínico Quirúrgico de 26 Hospital, in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality.
On Wednesday, journalist Yoani Sánchez also reported from her balcony, 14 stories high, about the daily burning of garbage in the capital. It is rare, very rare, the day that I stand on the terrace of my home at 14 stories high and do not see a pile of burning garbage," she stated.
The Center for Neurosciences of Cuba alerted in February 2026 that the incomplete combustion of waste releases carbon monoxide, dioxins, furans, and at least thirty toxic compounds, with documented effects on respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological health, especially in children and the elderly.
The regime's responses have not stopped the deterioration. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Marrero called for a massive cleaning day on February 28 with over 450 teams, and the government announced an investment project with Portuguese capital to modernize waste management. In March, he also ordered that workers affected by the energy crisis be sent to reinforce community services. None of these measures have reversed the situation.
Portal, which has a documented history of complaints since at least 2021, starkly summarized what the Cuban people are experiencing: "We are living on top of garbage, walking on top of garbage, and inhaling all the bad."
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