A video published by a Cuban civil engineer on Facebook shows the critical state of a corner in Havana where the structural columns are built of brick masonry without any interior steel reinforcement, and warns that the building could collapse if it does not receive urgent attention.
The material, which has accumulated over 36,000 views, precisely describes the risk posed by this type of construction: "There is a corner in Havana, like so many others, deteriorating progressively until it is almost at risk of collapse. It has structural failures in all its elements."
It is the corner of 19 and 44, in the Playa municipality, where a pharmacy is located.
The recording shows that the columns exhibit significant deterioration. This, combined with their type, renders them less suitable for supporting the structure, whose ceilings are also heavily damaged.
According to the young man, the columns of the building are made of bricks "set in citation," a masonry technique without internal metal reinforcement that was common before the widespread use of reinforced concrete.
Due to the lack of steel, these structures are significantly less robust and much more vulnerable to deterioration caused by moisture, salt, and lack of maintenance.
"This is not reinforced concrete. In this case, where the columns are made of bricks arranged in a choir pattern, it is very important to carry out continuous maintenance. A collapse could occur, potentially leading to a fatal outcome," he warns in the video.
The young man, in charge of a surveying, construction, and design company, recalled the importance of maintaining buildings, something that in Cuba "is not an established culture," which turns many homes into latent threats for their inhabitants.
Your complaint has institutional support. A manual from the University of Havana acknowledges that "officials, managers, the public, and users of the buildings in general are unaware of the regularity, importance, and necessity of implementing the maintenance management system," confirming that the issue is not only economic but also cultural and institutional.
The context in which this video appears is devastating. Approximately 1,000 buildings collapse each year in Havana, and the national housing deficit exceeds 929,000 units, with 35% of the existing stock in fair or poor condition.
In 2025, collapses repeatedly claimed lives. The collapse of a building on Compostela Street, Old Havana, killed a man and his mother, due to the evident deterioration that no one addressed for years. Months earlier, three people -including a seven-year-old girl- died in the collapse of Monte 722, in the same municipality.
In January, two partial collapses occurred in less than 24 hours in Old Havana, on Muralla and Teniente Rey streets. In February, the former headquarters of the Higher Institute of Design structurally collapsed due to prolonged deterioration and lack of maintenance.
The regime's ability to respond is virtually non-existent. In 2024, Cuba produced only 258,000 tons of cement, which is only 10% of its installed capacity. In 2025, the government completed just 2,382 homes out of the 10,795 that were planned, achieving only 22% of its own annual target.
A few days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman led an inspection tour of areas near the Malecón, identifying buildings at imminent risk of collapse, including the historic Castillito, without providing specific deadlines for repairs.
The Cuban architect Bertín Díaz warned last Saturday that the main obstacle isn't the lack of skilled workers or materials, but rather funding: it is estimated that between 6 billion and 10 billion dollars will be needed just for the initial phase of stabilizing Cuba's housing stock.
While the regime accumulates inspections without solutions and the deterioration progresses unchecked, the Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, acknowledged that "annual maintenance and conservation actions are required for more than 240,000 homes" to halt the progressive collapse, a goal that the government itself admits it is unable to meet.
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