An active fire at a landfill on Las Palmas Street, between Artola and Esquina Carmona, in Camagüey, has kept residents of the area on high alert since three in the morning this Friday, according to reports shared by journalist José L. Tan Estrada through the platform TanteandoCuba.
The flames have caused explosions of objects piled among the debris and a thick plume of smoke that forced several families to leave their homes and take shelter in neighbors' houses.
The most serious issue is not just the fire, but the overlap of responsibilities among state institutions.
According to the residents themselves, the firefighters informed them that the situation is the responsibility of the Government and Servicios Comunales, refusing to intervene directly.
For their part, the government authorities attributed the fire to an alleged "social indiscipline" among the residents and maintained that it is up to them to extinguish the fire.
Meanwhile, the fire continued to burn with no institution taking responsibility for extinguishing it.
This pattern of institutional evasion is not new in Cuba. In February 2026, garbage fires exacerbated the health crisis in residential areas of Havana, where residents accused Community Services workers of burning accumulated waste, generating toxic smoke that affected children and the elderly.
In April 2026, residents of Havana resorted to deliberately setting dumpsters on fire to obtain water from fire trucks due to the water shortage, a desperate measure that the authorities also classified as "social indiscipline."
In Camagüey, the waste management crisis has been carrying documented health consequences for months.
The province recorded between 30 and 40 daily positive cases of hepatitis A in April 2026, directly linked to waste accumulation.
The Hatibonico River, the main waterway of the city, features dark waters and piles of garbage along its banks, with an organic load of 4,557 tons of annual biochemical oxygen demand, according to data on the pollution of the Hatibonico River by garbage.
In May 2026, the municipality of Nuevitas had to resort to animal-drawn carts to collect waste in ten communities due to the collapse of motorized services, an image that reflects the structural regression of the country.
The underlying cause is the fuel shortage that has brought garbage collection trucks of the Community Services to a standstill across the island, resulting in massive piles of trash in the streets and residential areas of multiple provinces.
In June 2026, burning trash heaps became a trap for neighborhoods in Holguín, with recurring nighttime fires consuming plastics and hazardous waste, a pattern that is now repeating in Camagüey.
As the smoke continued to blanket Las Palmas street this Friday, residents reported that no authority had provided an effective response: "The fire continues to affect the community, and residents are lamenting the lack of an effective response from the authorities," noted TanteandoCuba.
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