Elderly adults and children with buckets, barrels, and containers in the middle of the street: that was the scene on 12th Street between 7th and 9th in Santiago de las Vegas, in the Boyeros municipality, south of Havana, where entire families had to leave their homes to collect water from a truck due to the complete lack of supply.
One of the harshest images of this crisis is seeing elderly people living alone carrying buckets of water to their homes. There has been no access to drinking water for days, and people are unable to wash, bathe, or flush their toilets.
Cuban elderly are not only suffering from blackouts, the unsanitary conditions in their neighborhoods and homes, and food shortages. There are days when even drinking water is scarce.
The video documenting the situation was shared on Facebook by José Díaz Silva, who explained that the report comes from a coalition of Cuban opposition organizations: Movimiento Democracia (MD), Movimiento Opositores por una Nueva República (MONR), ARC, and Cuba Decide.
"Once again, the difficult reality faced by our people is evident. In Santiago de las Vegas, entire families are forced to go out with buckets and containers to collect water from a truck because they do not receive the necessary supply at home," they denounce in the publication.
The water shortage intensified in January 2026, when supply sources were almost depleted, affecting more than 40,000 people. The municipal government of Boyeros deployed over 50 water trucks and established a new supply line from Bejucal as short-term solutions.
On July 15, Aguas de La Habana reported new disruptions in the area due to the breakdown of the Aguada del Cura equipment, with Electromechanical work underway to minimize the interruption.
The scene in Santiago de las Vegas is the local reflection of a water crisis that is already affecting more than 500,000 residents of Havana, according to specialists from Aguas de La Habana.
The number has steadily risen: in April, around 200,000 were affected; in May, 376,055; and in July, they surpassed half a million. Nationwide, nearly 2.7 million Cubans face daily challenges in accessing drinking water.
87% of Cuba's water supply system depends on the electrical grid, which means that every blackout also disrupts water pumping.
This is compounded by the extreme deterioration of the infrastructure: between 40% and 70% of the water pumped in Havana is lost before reaching homes due to leaks, and the government itself acknowledged in 2023 the existence of more than 4,000 active leaks in the national network.
In Boyeros, protests over water and power outages have multiplied this month. On July 5th, residents of Mantilla erupted after going up to seven days without water.
For those without internet access, the informal market has become the only resource. A water truck can cost between 18,000 and 26,000 Cuban pesos, and even up to 40,000 or 50,000 in the most affected areas, while the minimum monthly wage is 3,210 pesos since July 1, 2026.
"As citizens suffer from the lack of such a basic resource as water, the neglect and despair of a people who only ask for dignified living conditions is growing," concluded the opposition organizations in their statement.
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