Yuliana Landeiro, a mother residing in Bauta, Artemisa, made a desperate plea for help on Facebook last Thursday due to a severe bedbug infestation that has invaded her home and which neither fumigation nor insecticides have been able to control.
"Today I want to ask for your help, feeling embarrassed to do so, but motivated by the love for my children, which is greater. There's a terrible infestation of bedbugs, and it has made its way into my home—I don't know how, but it has," wrote Landeiro, who explains that he has already had to burn one mattress and needs to replace a total of three.
Insects primarily bite their offspring, especially little Marcell, whose fair skin makes the bites more visible.
"I have already sprayed with cypermethrin and nothing worked, I also bought another poison and still nothing. This is driving me crazy. My mattress is new, made a few months ago, and I have to burn it too," wrote the mother, who is asking anyone with a used mattress in Bauta to contact her at an affordable price.
In a video posted on the same social network, Landeiro shows bloodstains on his white sheets and on the child's clothing, as well as black marks on the wall where he has been crushing the insects he finds in the early hours of the morning.
"My white sheets are all stained, and the wall, as you can see, look at how all that black looks. That's because they have been dying there," she describes in the video.
The mother explains that bedbugs hide during the day and come out at night when the light goes off: "This is frustrating. I’ve spent nights without sleeping, turning on lights in the early morning to kill the ones I find."
Landeiro also had to take down the decorations in Marcell's room, including the plywood from the wall, where he suspects the insects are hiding. "The price of a mattress is outrageous, and the situation is overwhelming," he noted, closing his post with a phrase that sums up his determination: "Don't criticize me, because I'll do whatever it takes for my children."
The case of Bauta is not an isolated one. The bedbug infestation in Artemisa has spread since 2023 to homes, state and private institutions, warehouses, transportation, and public spaces, with only two entities authorized to carry out fumigation across the entire province.
In July 2025, a severe infestation was reported at the Gustavo Machín Psychiatric Hospital in Santiago de Cuba, and in August of that year, the Puerto Príncipe Hotel in Camagüey closed temporarily for the same reason.
In April 2026, authorities in Antilla, Holguín, acknowledged that Cuba had been facing a nationwide infestation for at least two years, which had affected hospitals, nursing homes, schools, hotels, and residences. In May 2026, residents of Santiago de Cuba continued to report the presence of the insects.
The resistance of bedbugs to pyrethroids like cypermethrin —the insecticide that Landeiro used without success— along with the widespread shortage of pest control products, exacerbates a situation that the Cuban regime has been unable to manage for more than a decade.
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