A photojournalist Roberto Suárez from the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde documented this Thursday the state of destruction and neglect affecting the Ciudad Escolar Libertad, in the Marianao municipality of the capital, where benches in the sports areas are seen broken and recreational facilities are deteriorating without any intervention from the authorities.
The video, posted on Facebook, shows the baseball, basketball, and volleyball courts where students are taking physical education classes with broken benches smashed by sledgehammers, seemingly without anyone being arrested for the incidents.
"Look at this, look here. They brought him in; it looks like he got hit with a hammer. I hope they caught whoever did this madness," says Suárez while walking through the facilities in the video.
The author himself, in the comments on his publication, pointed out that the problem goes far beyond isolated vandalism. "There has never been an effective protection system. Low wages, inflation, and the lack of autonomy for the Ciudad Escolar to manage its own resources make it increasingly difficult to preserve this heritage," he emphasized.
Suárez also emphasized that the deterioration is not new: "I am referring to years of damage, even since the Obama administration, which brought resources to this country."
The pools in the complex, which could have been used for sports and recreation, were abandoned until they were destroyed, and now the water shortage affecting Marianao adds to the problem.
The public reaction in the comments of the video reflects indignation and helplessness in equal measure.
A neighbor who trained there during the pandemic wrote: "I was training there when COVID hit, and I was in great shape. Unbelievable!"
Another commentator described a pattern of systematic looting that goes beyond broken banks. "All the sports facilities are destroyed, schools are stripped of pipes of all kinds, windows, and anything else they can rip off; it's vandalism at all hours. It's very unfortunate, but apparently no one is doing anything because there are thousands of reports, and in the end, everything just ends up on paper."
The feeling of impunity is another common thread in the reactions. "This is happening in broad daylight, right in front of everyone, and no one is reporting anything," noted one citizen, while a third person pointed directly at the regime: "The crime and lack of control that the government has, which does not take a strong stance against these social misconducts."
Irony was not absent in response to the official rhetoric about decentralization: "And this is how they want municipalities to have autonomy," wrote a user.
The deterioration of the Ciudad Escolar Libertad is not an isolated case. In October 2025, students from the complex were evacuated due to a reported fire or explosion, with no official statement provided by the government.
The phenomenon of vandalism against urban and school furniture is recurring throughout Havana. Streets of Centro Habana were compared this week to war zones, and in April the XI Alamar Film Festival was documented in complete ruins, with rusted seats and vegetation growing among the debris.
The Libertad School City was declared a National Monument in 2008 and, in its first 60 years, graduated nearly 300,000 students. Suárez summarized with a question that the government still has not answered: "Can the Marianao government really not stop this situation?"
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