A group of children from Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo, has been working for several days to restore an abandoned fountain located next to the city's seawall, in what has become one of the most touching stories circulating on Cuban social media this month.
The visible protagonist of the project is Yan Andrés (@yan_andresrdz), who began documenting the initiative on July 23 on Instagram with a series of reels titled "Day one trying to remodel this abandoned pool." The first video garnered over 18,000 likes and 348 comments; the second surpassed 11,000 likes; and the third approached 4,000.
The task began with brooms: the children swept away the dirt that had accumulated over the years and cleared the debris that filled the fountain. "We started the day by sweeping all the dirt that was there. Then we began to remove the rubble," Yan Andrés recounted in the first episode.
The second day was more demanding. Despite the rain, the team knocked down deteriorated statues and transported the debris to the landfill located in front of the park. "Despite the rainy conditions on day 2, we were able to complete the mission," the boy recounted as he closed that chapter.
The third day brought a new obstacle: the rains had filled the fountain with water overnight. "Our team waited for the rain to stop and then we went to check; when we looked, it was full of water and we started to remove it," explained Yan Andrés in the reel of day three, which concluded with the announcement of a fourth episode.
In the comments, the boy clarified that the space is technically not a pool: "It's not a pool, it's a fountain that doesn't work anymore, but we're going to clean it to use it as a pool. Next to it, there's a hose that connects to a tube and the water comes out into the pool."
The story is moving precisely because it takes place in a context of widespread neglect. Baracoa, one of the oldest cities in Cuba, has been suffering for years from the deterioration of its public spaces, with closed hotels and prolonged power outages becoming part of the everyday landscape.
This deterioration is not exclusive to Baracoa. The El Mambisito children's park in Holguín was documented in June with missing roofs and attractions out of service. The Japanese Park in Camagüey was reported in April without electricity, with stagnant water in its pool and its train turned into scrap. In Matanzas, the Armando Carnot park was reported in May with damaged playground equipment and being used as a water supply point due to shortages.
Faced with that reality, the image of a child organizing his friends to clean, sweep, and carry debris in the rain, with the sole objective of having a place to play, encapsulates—more clearly than any official speech could match—what it means to grow up in Cuba in 2026.
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