The scene repeats itself in Havana: accumulated garbage, open flames, and columns of smoke rising in the middle of the street. This time, it was the Cuban comedian Rigoberto Ferrera who highlighted it, sharing a video in which several containers are burning while he makes sarcastic comments.
“Look at this, buddy,” he says at the beginning of the recording, while focusing on a row of blue tanks engulfed in flames, surrounded by debris scattered along the road. The smoke covers much of the area, revealing the extent of the problem.
In his visual journey, Ferrera does not just show the fire. He also points out the accumulated dirt in the surroundings and concludes with a phrase that encapsulates the tone of his denunciation: “What would Greta and Pablo say? The people who came by sailboat… Marvel of Florida.”
The ironic reference contrasts with the reality captured by the images: streets turned into makeshift dumps, overflowing containers, and the burning of trash as a desperate escape in the absence of waste collection.
The video adds to a series of reports in recent weeks that have highlighted the decline of communal services in the capital. In various parts of Havana, the fires in landfills have become frequent, often amid power outages, turning the flames into an improvised source of “lighting” for entire neighborhoods.
Behind these scenes lies a structural crisis. The city is operating with less than half of its garbage collection trucks due to a fuel shortage and has an insufficient number of containers for the volume of waste generated daily. The result is visible: garbage accumulation over several days and residents opting to set it on fire to dispose of it.
The consequences go beyond bad odors or mess. The burning of waste releases toxic substances that directly impact health, in a city where smoke has already become part of the daily landscape.
While the official narrative insists on solutions that never seem to materialize, the reality on the streets is different. Videos like the one from Ferrera not only document the problem but also highlight it with the most direct language available: the irony of those who observe and can do nothing but point out the obvious.
The so-called “City of Wonders” is on fire again, literally, amidst trash and neglect.
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