The political and health authorities of Guantánamo acknowledged this Friday a worsening of the epidemiological situation in the province, characterized by an increase in the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito and shortcomings in the detection of febrile cases.
The First Secretary of the Communist Party in the region, Yoel Pérez García, called for a meeting with health officials, which was also attended by Governor Alis Azahares Torreblanca, and demanded greater efforts in the fight against vector-borne diseases, reported the official newspaper Venceremos.
Pérez identified the lack of researchers as a critical factor. According to the official, completing this workforce is "decisive" for increasing the detection of fever cases and achieving better control of the mosquito transmission hotspots, although the media refrained from releasing statistics on the matter.
The governor, for her part, emphasized "the importance of the functioning of leadership positions and multidisciplinary work to win the battle against such a dangerous vector, responsible for diseases that can become fatal, such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika."
The municipalities of Guantánamo, Caimanera, San Antonio del Sur, El Salvador, and Niceto Pérez have been identified as the most affected by the presence of Aedes aegypti. Authorities consider it more urgent to conduct health hearings and educational talks in these areas to guide the population on the elimination of breeding sites and to seek medical consultation in the presence of fever symptoms.
The same meeting critically analyzed the performance of the Maternal and Child Program so far this year, with a notably negative impact in the municipalities of Guantánamo, Baracoa, Manuel Tames, and El Salvador.
The alert comes after weeks of sustained deterioration. At the end of July, Guantánamo reported 23 suspected cases of dengue, and the municipalities of Imías and San Antonio del Sur were classified at the Epidemiological Alarm level, the highest risk tier within the Cuban endemic channel before declaring an epidemic.
On August 10, Radio Guantánamo was already reporting an upward trend in febrile cases in the capital city, with 18 suspected cases of dengue primarily concentrated in the southern area, in addition to confirmed circulation of serotypes 2, 3, and 4 of the virus.
The provincial scenario is set against the backdrop of a national health crisis. In June, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña, publicly warned that Cuba could face a new dengue epidemic due to the simultaneous circulation of all four serotypes of the virus.
Structural factors exacerbate the problem, such as prolonged blackouts that force families to store water in containers, which become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The collapse of the waste collection system due to a lack of fuel promotes their proliferation, and the shortage of insecticides halts fumigation efforts in much of the country.
Guantánamo has a recurring history as one of the provinces most affected by dengue. In October 2022, it was identified as the first territory in the country for dengue transmission, with nearly 1,600 deposits containing Aedes aegypti larvae in more than 1,300 homes across nine municipalities.
According to data from the Pan American Health Organization, Cuba ended 2025 with over 81,900 cases of dengue and chikungunya and at least 65 fatalities associated with both diseases, figures that the Ministry of Public Health took months to publicly acknowledge.
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