A video posted on Facebook documents the state of degradation of the Hatibonico River, the most important watercourse in the city of Camagüey, with dark brown waters, trash piling up along the banks, and a destroyed riverside ecosystem.
The author of the material, Humberto Galindo, walks along the riverbank and shows plastic bottles, bags, cardboard, and domestic waste deposited directly on the shore. "Its ecological system destroyed by the passage of time and neglect. It is sad to see this river," he laments in the recording.
Galindo evokes the contrast between the present and the historical past of Hatibonico. In its waters, which "were transparent," José Olallo Valdés—religious of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God and the first Cuban blessed—washed the clothes of the patients at the Hospital of Saint John of God in Camagüey during the 19th century.
"Its waters were clear. And today this river is doomed to oblivion, to degradation," concludes the video’s author.
The situation is not new. The General Plan for Territorial and Urban Planning of Camagüey, approved in 2021, already recognized the urgent need to reforest, clean, and dredge the Tínima and Hatibonico rivers, and to eliminate sources of pollution, without any visible progress being made.
Academic studies identify the city of Camagüey as the main source of pollution in its river system, with an organic load of 4,557 tons of BOD5 per year and 32 pollution sources within the urban perimeter, distributed among 24 industrial, six health-related, one research center, and others.
The CityAdapt program reported that 95% of the wells in Camagüey were out of compliance due to contamination, primarily from nitrates and coliform bacteria associated with the infiltration of liquid waste.
The consequences worsen with each episode of rain. In September 2025, the overflow of the Hatibonico during heavy rains revealed clogged drains and uncleaned sewers, raising alerts about potential outbreaks of dengue, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal diseases.
The problem recurred in May 2026, when a downpour lasting more than an hour turned the streets of Camagüey into lakes, highlighting that the situation remains unresolved.
The crisis in Hatibonico reflects a structural problem that affects all of Cuba. The accumulation of garbage in unsanitary hotspots has been linked to outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, leptospirosis, and hepatitis A across the country, while the collapse of the waste collection system and the lack of wastewater treatment infrastructure worsen environmental degradation in both urban and rural areas alike.
Sanitation efforts in Hatibonico were promoted in December 2022 by Radio Camagüey, confirming that the issue is recurring and longstanding, with the regime's authorities having been unable to address it.
Filed under: