A video posted on Facebook shows the dilapidated state of the Puerto Escondido campground, located in Santa Cruz del Norte, Mayabeque, at kilometer 80 of the Vía Blanca, northeast of Havana. The images, captured by the Cuban creator known as "El creador cubano," reveal destroyed cabins, an abandoned swimming pool, and a dance floor in complete disrepair.
"Sadness, yearning, memories, memories of something that no longer exists. Those beautiful memories that marked childhood," says the video's author as he walks through the remnants of the place. When showing the pool, he adds with irony, "It's nice for a swim, as long as you don't mind the ground."
Puerto Escondido Camping was inaugurated on July 6, 1983 as the first facility of the North Coast Complex of Mayabeque, within the Popular Camping program established in 1981. It featured rustic wooden cabins with thatched roofs, a swimming pool, a dance floor, and recreational areas, and during the 1980s and 1990s, it was one of the most popular leisure destinations for families and young people from Havana.
"Here we have the dance floor from the parties we used to have at night at the Puerto Escondido campsite. It's sad, it breaks my heart, Daddy. Look at that. And this is what remains," the author laments in front of the rubble.
The deterioration of Puerto Escondido is not an isolated case. The abandonment of the Campismo Popular facilities extends across the entire island: the official media itself described these facilities in March 2024 as "a sad picture of glorious years reduced to dirt, decay, and waste."
The San Pedro campsite, in Artemisa, dropped from 310 cabins in 2023 to only 242 in 2025, with infrastructure described as having cracked floors, bathrooms in terrible condition, and recreational areas completely destroyed. The Río Jobabo campsite was classified as a "precarious sanctuary without water, without lighting, without campers, without life."
This accumulated crisis of lack of investment and maintenance was compounded by vandalism, the illegal occupation of vacant facilities, and the damages caused by Hurricane Rafael in 2024, which further worsened the deterioration of these spaces throughout the country.
The video from Puerto Escondido has become an emotional phenomenon within the Cuban community both on the island and abroad, amassing over 372,000 views and nearly 1,600 comments. The description left by the author in the post encapsulates the feelings of many: “My Cuba is stuck in the past; it is just a memory of what we once knew, of what we lived, the most beautiful memories of my childhood only remain in my mind. Bring me back to my Cuba.”
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