A large fire broke out this Sunday, destroying a private business located at the intersection of Agua Dulce and San Benigno streets in the El Cerro municipality of Havana, according to videos shared on social media by user Irma Lidia Broek.
The Cuban authorities have not issued any official statement regarding the incident, its causes, the exact damages, or the possible existence of victims.
The images, recorded during the night, show intense orange and red flames rising above low structures, with a thick column of reddish smoke covering the sky of the neighborhood. The post garnered more than 10,000 views within a few hours.
In the recording, a witness can be heard saying: "There isn't even a fire truck here," which highlights the very limited emergency response to the scale of the fire.
The magnitude of the disaster was such that the smell of burning was detected in areas far from the site. A user commented on the post: "The smell of burning is noticeable here in Tulipán and Ayestarán," a location distant from the Cerro municipality.
Neighbors and customers of the business reacted with dismay. One user wrote: "How sad, I have purchased several high-quality items there and they are very kind. My support goes to their staff." Another expressed regret that the workers "will be left without their jobs" and conveyed her sorrow for the material losses of the owners.
The original publication attributes the risk of such incidents to "electrical accidents or explosions of motorbikes" in the context of the energy crisis facing the island.
The fire occurs in a context of multiple crises. Havana is experiencing blackouts that exceed 12 hours a day, with electricity generation deficits that surpass 1,700 MW during peak nighttime hours.
This is compounded by a severe water shortage: over 248,000 people in the capital lack regular access to water supply, and neighborhoods within the Cerro municipality rank among the most affected.
That combination—prolonged outages that necessitate the use of motorcycles and makeshift generators, along with a lack of water that complicates fire extinguishing—creates high-risk conditions for private businesses that operate under precarious circumstances.
According to data from February 2026, 96% of Cuban Mipymes are affected by the fuel crisis, in a sector that comprises around 11,300 authorized companies.
The municipality of El Cerro is one of the most densely populated areas in Havana, with aging infrastructure and high vulnerability to emergencies.
In Cuba, there is no consolidated system of private insurance for businesses, so the destruction of a small or medium-sized enterprise (Mipyme) effectively means the irreversible loss of the investment by its owners and the jobs of its workers.
It is not the first time that a fire has destroyed assets of a Mipyme on the island: in July 2025, the trailer of a private business linked to Transmarco was incinerated in Ciego de Ávila.
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