Newly released videos on social media show massive accumulations of waste at least three locations in Havana: near El Curita park, at the intersection of San Juan and Virtudes streets, and around the iconic La Época store in Centro Habana.
The images, posted by the Cuba hoy account on Facebook, document the decline in waste collection in the capital and have reached hundreds of thousands of views. The video recorded in front of La Época has surpassed 366,000 views and 1,400 comments.
On Virtudes Street, the narrator shows a trash bin that, as he explains, has been set on fire multiple times.
"Look at this. It's half on fire. They've set it ablaze multiple times. The firefighters come, put it out. And that's it," he describes in the recording.
The same video warns about the health risks associated with open-air waste burning and mentions the diseases that, according to the narrator, exist in Cuba related to these conditions.
"The garbage dumps in Havana stretch for kilometers, and no one is doing anything to solve this," lamented the content creator in the latest recording, shared this Sunday, which illustrates the deplorable condition of one of the access points to El Curita park, in front of the iconic Águila y Dragones building, the headquarters of the Territorial Division of the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa).
The crisis also has a structural component related to collection capacity. At the beginning of 2026, only 44 out of the 106 garbage trucks in Havana were operational, equivalent to 41% of the fleet, due to a lack of diesel and mechanical deterioration.
According to estimates, the Cuban capital generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of solid waste each day, while up to 23,814 cubic meters may go uncollected daily.
The new videos again highlight an issue that has been affecting various areas of Havana for months, with piles of garbage lingering in the streets while the collection capacity remains limited.
On the eve, the official press showcased a batch of 20 trucks and more than 240 Ampliroll containers from China, during a tour led by Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman at the logistics base in the Playa municipality, with an investment that exceeds one million euros. The authorities in the capital themselves acknowledged that "this is not the definitive solution."
Weeks prior, the failure of the electric tricycle project donated by China for the Rampa Popular Council in Vedado came to light, as the solar charging station at 23 and J remains unfinished and the energy crisis prevents the vehicles from being charged.
Pedro Lizardo Garcés Escalona, president of that People's Council, admitted: "Unfortunately, the initial idea and the goal with which the collection of solid waste using electric tricycles was designed have not been achieved."
The pattern repeats: in 2019, Japan donated 100 garbage trucks to Havana, but the fleet deteriorated rapidly due to a lack of maintenance, parts, and fuel.
Cuba ended 2025 with at least 81,909 cases of dengue and chikungunya and 65 fatalities, an outbreak that The New York Times directly linked to the accumulation of waste.
The Cuban Neuroscience Center warned in February that the incomplete combustion of waste releases at least 30 toxic compounds. More than 500,000 residents of Havana remained without regular access to drinking water in July, which multiplies the epidemiological risk.
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