A video circulated on social media shows that the corner of San José and Escobar streets, in the municipality of Centro Habana, is practically overwhelmed by a mountain of garbage, forcing pedestrians and vehicles to share the limited free space left on the road.
The 48-second clip shows piles of waste such as cardboard boxes, plastic bags, clothing, and debris lining buildings of deteriorating colonial architecture.
"Today I passed by there, it's worse than ever, my God, for goodness' sake, how long will this last," wrote a resident. Another pointed out that the problem isn't new: "That block has always been like this, it's been like this for about 20 years."
Citizen outrage was unanimous. "How sad, my city has turned into a huge dump. So many people are going to get sick, and they still ask us to take measures at home to prevent the spread of viruses and diseases. It's unbelievable to see this; it's criminal," expressed a resident.
Other comments pointed directly to the health risks that come with the arrival of summer. "Summer is in full swing, and epidemics will also be at their peak, with all that filth."
A resident listed the threats: "At any moment, our friends dengue, yellow fever, hepatitis, scabies, bedbugs, and lice will come."
A neighbor summed up inequality in one sentence: "Visit the residential neighborhoods of the leaders and see if it looks like this."
Centro Habana has been the scene of multiple garbage dumpster fires this year, some of which endangered the Parish of San Judas Tadeo and San Nicolás de Bari, in the neighborhood of Los Sitios.
The Escolapio Parents reported that they had exhausted all institutional avenues after meeting with representatives from all three levels of government. "They have listened to us. They have made plans. They have promised. But the actions have not followed," they stated.
The collapse has structural roots. Since February 2026, only 44 of the 106 garbage collection trucks in Havana are operational due to a lack of diesel.
The capital generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of waste daily, but the actual capacity leaves up to 23,814 cubic meters uncollected each day. The regime itself acknowledged in December 2025 that it cannot clean the capital or pay the street cleaners a decent wage.
The epidemiological context intensifies the urgency. This Thursday, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña, warned during the official television program Mesa Redonda that Cuba could be facing a new dengue epidemic as all four serotypes of the virus are circulating simultaneously.
During the day itself, the province of Matanzas confirmed its first cases of the 2026 season.
Cuba ended 2025 with at least 81,909 cases of dengue and chikungunya and 65 official fatalities, according to data from the Pan American Health Organization, in an outbreak that The New York Times directly linked to the massive accumulation of waste on the island.
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