A video posted this Saturday on Facebook shows mountains of trash accumulated around the church of San Judas Tadeo and San Nicolas de Bari, located in the Los Sitios neighborhood of Centro Habana, which has sparked outrage among Cubans both on the island and abroad.
The recording reveals the state of neglect surrounding one of the most revered temples in Havana, located at the intersection of San Nicolás and Rayo streets, and devoted to the patron of difficult and impossible causes.
The comments on the video reflect the outrage of Cubans at the sight of the temple surrounded by trash.
"Not even the house of God is safe," wrote a user.
Another person accurately identified the filmed location: "That is the Church of San Nicolás and San Judas Tadeo, located in the Los Sitios neighborhood, Centro Habana. The filming is taking place from the intersection of San Nicolás and Rayo streets. It's not the only one in this condition: the Church of la Caridad del Cobre in Manrique and Salud is similar, and the Church of Monserrate in Galeano is a dump along the entire side of Concordia and San Nicolás."
A user expressed, "That's a bad sign. I'm not very religious, but how can they surround the house of God with garbage?"
Another comment summed up the collective sentiment: "The Cuba that must be defended is a dump. That is a sacred place, and look at how it is."
On April 9, a fire caused by garbage burning on San Nicolás Street completely charred and destroyed the main door of the parish.
On April 23, the makeshift dump next to the temple caught fire again and the firefighters did not respond to the call for help.
The next day, the Calasanz Fathers issued an urgent statement warning that the church was nearly set on fire for the third time in less than two months, and denouncing that the previous damages remained unrepaired.
"They have listened to us. They have made plans. They have promised. But the actions do not come," wrote the Escolapios, who claimed to have exhausted all institutional avenues after meeting with representatives from the three levels of government—municipal, provincial, and national—without obtaining concrete results.
The backdrop is the collapse of the waste collection system in the Cuban capital, as since February, only 44 of the 106 garbage trucks in Havana are operational, leaving between 13,000 and 23,814 cubic meters of waste uncollected daily.
The problem extends beyond Centro Habana. On June 2, the San Antonio María Claret Parish in Santiago de Cuba issued a similar public statement, describing the accumulation of garbage, rodents, and fires in front of its temple, and labeling the situation as "unsustainable."
The accumulation of waste across the Island is also linked to outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya, with dozens of reported deaths nationwide, while regime authorities continue to fail to provide structural solutions to a crisis that has been affecting Cubans for years.
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