A property located on calle Milanés, between Manzaneda and Zaragoza, in the historic center of Matanzas, suddenly collapsed this afternoon without injuring anyone, according to independent content creator Christian Arbolaez.
The images of the incident show debris strewn across the sidewalk and roadway, as well as emergency personnel wearing white and yellow helmets assessing the area among colonial buildings in the typical colors of the Matanzas heritage.
As of the time of the report, the causes of the collapse had not been announced.
The incident occurs in one of the main arteries of the historic center of the city, an area designated as a National Monument, where technical studies estimate that approximately 100 properties are significantly deteriorated, and 12% of the buildings are in poor condition with a risk of irreversible destruction.
The causes of the deterioration are systemic: deficiencies in waterproofing and water drainage, lack of planned maintenance, abusive changes in use, scarcity of construction materials, and absence of stable funding for conservation.
In July 2025, the local government had already restricted access to several buildings in the historic center due to the risk of collapse, without any noticeable improvement in the situation.
The street Milanés runs parallel to Calle del Medio, whose decline was widely documented in May 2026 due to illegal motorcycle traffic, accumulation of garbage, and thefts, despite being a pedestrian area also declared a National Monument.
This collapse adds to a series of incidents reported in the province during 2026: on May 30, the old cafeteria El Confite in Colón partially gave way, and on May 11, a warehouse collapsed in Cárdenas, both incidents resulting in no injuries.
The pattern repeats on a national scale. In Havana, nearly 1,000 buildings collapse each year, and by the end of 2025, there were 185,348 properties in poor condition in the capital, of which more than 46,000 required major renovations. In 2025, at least six people died in the capital due to collapses, including a seven-year-old girl and a five-month-old baby.
The Cuban regime has been repeatedly criticized for prioritizing the construction of tourist hotels over the maintenance of housing heritage and historical centers, a policy that has steadily worsened the structural crisis throughout the country.
The newspaper Girón, the official organ of the province, warned in 2026 that “what is at stake is no longer just the image of Matanzas, but the health and future of its inhabitants.”
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