A Cuban woman reported on Facebook the burning of a dumpster near her home, which started on Thursday afternoon and continued into the night while the area remained without electricity, polluting the air in the neighborhood.
"Right now, once again, a fire has broken out in the dump near our home. It started in the afternoon and it's already night, and we are without power," wrote the internet user, emphasizing that this is not an isolated incident but a recurring situation without intervention from the authorities.
According to their account, 176 families are currently inhaling black, toxic smoke from waste combustion. "It’s not just a bad smell: it’s poison entering through our windows, into the lungs of our children and our elderly," they warned.
The situation worsens because the neighbors cannot close doors or windows to protect themselves: the extreme heat makes it impossible, and the smoke seeps in anyway. "We can't close doors and windows or we would die from the heat, plus the smoke comes in from everywhere," explained Hernández Rodríguez.
In her publication, the author demands from CITMA —the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment— a genuine environmental inspection and concrete measures. "We are not asking for privileges, we are demanding our most basic right!: To live in a healthy environment. The law supports us and CITMA has the obligation to act," she stated.
The complaint comes amid a waste management crisis that has intensified across the island during August. In recent days, reports were made of garbage overflowing in Parque Trillo in Centro Habana, accumulations in San Miguel del Padrón and Las Tunas, and a huge landfill next to a primary school in Holguín.
The collapse has structural roots: in Havana, only 44 out of 106 garbage trucks were operational in 2026, while the capital generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of solid waste daily, with up to 23,814 m³ uncollected each day.
The burning of waste is not just a problem of odor or discomfort. The Cuban Neuroscience Center warned in February 2026 that the combustion of waste releases at least 30 toxic compounds —dioxins, furans, carbon monoxide, fine particulate matter PM2.5, and heavy metals— capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and harming memory, child cognitive development, and triggering neurodegenerative diseases.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the government's responses have been insufficient: the minister of CITMA, Armando Rodríguez Batista, stated in February that the government "neither encourages nor promotes" open-air waste burning, but he acknowledged that the practice causes pollution and affects public health, without announcing concrete solutions.
Hernández Rodríguez concluded his publication with a question that encapsulates the desperation of hundreds of Cuban families: “How long will we have to suffer in silence? How long will we have to wait for our concerns to be taken seriously?”
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