A video published on Saturday on Facebook shows loose cattle on the highway, near the city of Matanzas, while the occupants of the car recording express alarm over the imminent risk of an accident.
The author of the recording, Regla Barbara Llorente Querol, warned that the vehicle traveling in front of hers nearly collided with the animals.
In the text accompanying the video, the woman was emphatic: "There are situations that can be avoided. The sad thing is that this is not an exception; it's a daily reality on the Havana-Matanzas highway. How is it possible that no measures are being adopted?"
In the footage, recorded around 7:15 PM, the occupants of the car are heard reacting with disbelief at the animals on the road. "What’s the point? Do we have to wait for someone to get killed?"
The Havana-Matanzas highway, approximately 105 kilometers long, is one of the most traveled routes in the country, utilized for both passenger and cargo transport, which increases the risk when animals are on the road, especially during times of low visibility.
The incident is not an isolated case. Just a week before, a bus from the National Bus Company collided with a loose cattle on the Central Highway, in a section near Ciego de Ávila. The incident caused material damage to the front of the vehicle, but there were no human casualties.
Cuba has specific legislation to address this problem: the Road Safety Code prohibits the presence of animals on the roadway, and Decree 70 of 2022 establishes fines of up to 20,000 pesos for each loose animal found, in addition to confiscation. However, the penalties do not succeed in eradicating the practice of not properly securing livestock.
In the first half of 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture detected 106 stray animals during inspections on major roads, issued 210 fines with penalties exceeding 2.2 million pesos and confiscated 278 heads of livestock. The provinces with the highest incidence were Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, and Mayabeque.
The economic crisis affecting the Island has worsened the deterioration of livestock infrastructure, contributing to animals escaping or being taken to graze along the edges of the roads without any control.
The context of road accidents in Cuba is serious: the year 2025 ended with 750 deaths and over 7,500 accidents across the country, according to the National Road Safety Commission, and the incidents caused by loose animals account for a significant fraction of that number.
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