A video published this Sunday by the Facebook page Holguín en fotos shows an elderly person accompanied by a child crossing through a burning dump in the Villanueva 3 neighborhood, while a column of thick smoke envelops the surrounding residential buildings, alarming residents about its effects on health.
The page warned urgently that open burning of waste cannot be an alternative to the collapse of waste collection services. "This smoke is filled with toxic substances. For those suffering from asthma, allergies, etc., this is poison. The situation is tough, waste collection is difficult, but this cannot become a solution."
The comments on the video reflect the desperation of those who deal with the issue on a daily basis.
A resident who lives near the landfill described her experience: "I live nearby and have to pass by there; I could hardly breathe, and my hair and clothes smelled terrible. The people in the surrounding buildings can hardly live. The governor has an apartment right there, and all those buildings belong to the Minint. No one can live in that area; even the stray dogs are set on fire. They burn things there every single day."
Another neighbor pointed out the accumulated damage to the respiratory health of the population: "They are destroying the lungs of the community. When they burn those garbage containers, the smoke is terrible, and a gray ash and black dust spread that is killing the people."
Indignation mixes with resignation. "You are going to die, no matter what, and quickly too; if one thing doesn't kill you, another will. How horrifying! They don't consider the consequences of burning that trash," wrote a forum member.
Someone else pointed out that "burning that trash outdoors contaminates the environment with toxic substances that harm human health, especially so close to a populated residential area," and demanded that the authorities take action.
One voice summed up the underlying issue: "The solution is not to create landfills... and indifference has become widespread... it's terrible and throughout Cuba."
The crisis in Villanueva 3 is not an isolated incident. Holguín has been accumulating months of complaints regarding the collapse of community services, with makeshift landfills invading playgrounds, central streets, and sports facilities.
This very Sunday, Radio Angulo recognized that the accumulation of solid waste "is the result of a chain of inefficiencies where the collection by Communal services is clearly insufficient, and control over the major waste generators —Mipymes, TCP, and state centers— is virtually nonexistent."
In a text titled "Holguín, from one of the cleanest cities in Cuba to a landfill," the provincial broadcaster also admitted that "with each passing day, the mounds grow, overflow, and invade sidewalks, turning the environment into a permanent source of pollution."
The source added that "in the absence of systematic solutions, some opt for burning trash. And then the air becomes filled with smoke, with invisible toxins, with that persistent smell that seeps into homes, into clothing, into the lungs. This, far from solving the problem, transforms it into an even more dangerous one."
In April 2026, that same outlet reported that garbage was burning every night in various neighborhoods, consuming plastics, LED tubes, food scraps, decomposing animals, and expired medication containers.
The Community Services Company acknowledged shortages of trucks, spare parts, fuel, and labor, without providing concrete solutions.
In October and November of 2025, Holguín reported cases of dengue—serotype four confirmed by polymerase chain reaction test—and chikungunya in nearly all of its 14 municipalities, with accumulated waste identified as a factor that encourages the breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, adding another health dimension to a crisis that authorities have been unable to resolve.
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