Old Havana is facing challenges in keeping its public spaces clean, even after sanitation efforts, acknowledged Perla Rosales Aguirreurreta, deputy director of the Office of the Historian of Havana, in a post made on Thursday on her Facebook profile.
Rosales explained that they dedicated hours of work to assist the president of the Plaza Vieja popular council in reorganizing where and how solid waste should be deposited for collection in an area that encompasses a concert hall, the Supreme Court, and the headquarters of the Municipal Party.
The official showed images of Obrapía Street, between Aguiar and Habana, that at 9:00 a.m. was covered with accumulated waste. In another scene, a worker from Empresa Aurora, part of the Comunales, arrives at the location and deposits the waste he had collected onto the street.
The publication also highlighted the work of the micro and small enterprise Ratoncito Blanco, which sanitized the space again until it was clean. However, two hours later, debris and waste began to accumulate in the area once more.
In light of the situation, the official stated that they will not give up and urged inspectors to join the effort to ensure compliance with the measures implemented.
In the comments, several users agreed on the need for specific schedules and locations for waste disposal, a collection system to prevent overaccumulation, and a greater presence of inspectors to enforce compliance with the regulations.
Rosales herself stated that it is a "test of endurance" and emphasized that education and oversight must progress together. She also highlighted the need to create conditions that allow the population to comply with waste management regulations.
The situation presented in Plaza Vieja reflects one of the difficulties Havana faces in keeping its streets free of trash, in a context where even newly restored spaces start accumulating waste just hours after being cleaned.
The problem is neither new nor exclusive to that block. According to official data, the capital generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of solid waste daily, but only 44 out of the 106 available collection trucks remain operational, just 41% of the fleet, halted due to fuel shortages and mechanical breakdowns.
The city has about 10,000 containers, while it would need between 20,000 and 30,000.
Days ago, a video showed how garbage overflows at Trillo Park in Centro Habana, with cardboard boxes, plastic bags, clothing, and organic waste piling up without collection.
In July, the corner of Ánimas and Monserrate, also in Old Havana, was captured in another video as an open-air dump in front of colonial buildings.
Since November 2025, the government of La Habana Vieja has required residents and businesses to take out the trash directly to the collection truck starting at 7:00 p.m. in several popular councils, including Plaza Vieja. The measure has not resolved the structural problem.
The health consequences are severe. Cuba ended 2025 with at least 81,909 official cases of dengue and chikungunya and 65 deaths, an outbreak that The New York Times directly linked to the garbage crisis.
In June of this year, the Ministry of Public Health activated epidemiological surveillance due to the risk of new outbreaks.
The deterioration contrasts with the legacy of the historian Eusebio Leal (1942-2020), who transformed the Historic Center into a global benchmark for urban conservation over nearly four decades. Old Havana was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.
"If Eusebio Leal were to come back to life, he would die again.", wrote a user upon seeing the current images of deterioration weeks ago.
The historian Julio César González Pagés described it bluntly: "Havana, amidst trash and feces, enters the summer with little water, hygiene, and medications, reliving the worst of its colonial period."
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