Two trucks from a small and medium-sized enterprise arrived on Tuesday at the landfill in the Villena neighborhood of the Havana municipality of Boyeros to dispose of boxes of eggs damaged by the heat. However, local residents found out and rushed to collect them before they were thrown away, according to images shared on Facebook by exiled opposition member José Díaz Silva, who claimed that the videos were sent directly from Cuba.
Residents argued that among the spoiled goods, there might be some eggs still fit for consumption, a reasoning that reflects how scarcity compels individuals to take risks that would be unthinkable under other circumstances.
The images show several people on the cargo vehicle unloading boxes, while a woman in a pink blouse carries one of them on her head at sunset.
Díaz Silva described the scene as a portrayal of "the difficult economic and social situation that many Cubans face, forced to take advantage of any opportunity to bring food to their homes amidst scarcity and high prices."
It is not the first time something like this has happened. In March 2025, in Santiago de Cuba, dozens of people collected rotten eggs from the street, an episode that coincided with a diarrheal outbreak in the area and revealed the same level of desperation.
The backdrop of these scenes is a poultry crisis that is considered the worst since the Special Period of the 1990s.
The national production of eggs has plummeted: on the Isle of Youth it fell by 98%, from 42,000 to just 1,000 units daily, while in Ciego de Ávila it dropped from 120 million in 2016 to only 16 million in 2024.
In the informal market, the price of a carton of 30 eggs can reach 3,300 Cuban pesos, a figure that exceeds the monthly pension of a retiree, while a single egg is sold for between 90 and 120 pesos.
To try to contain the shortage, the regime imports 16.5 million eggs monthly from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and the United States, and has established sales limits: four eggs per person in the Isle of Youth at 50 pesos in stores and five per person in Las Tunas at 60 pesos.
The municipality of Boyeros, where the incident on Tuesday occurred, is also facing a chronic shortage of bread and other basic products, according to complaints from its own residents.
The overall picture is equally grim: according to the survey "There is Hunger in Cuba 2025" by the Food Monitor Program, 96.91% of the Cuban population lacked adequate access to food in April 2026, and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights estimates that 89% of Cubans live in extreme poverty.
"The reality that the Cuban people face is becoming increasingly harsh," Díaz Silva wrote when publishing the images. "The lack of food, low wages, and the general crisis continue to impact Cuban families."
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