A video circulated this Thursday on social media shows the Bernardo García funeral home on Zanja Street in Central Havana, surrounded by garbage, allegedly clothing from the sick and deceased, as well as other waste accumulated along the exterior wall facing Belascoaín Street.
The recording, published on the Facebook profile of user Liena López Delgado, shows the deteriorated condition of the building, with destroyed walls, missing windows, and graffiti covering a significant part of the facade.
"What a filthy situation, right next to the funeral home," the voiceover reported, pointing out the presence of "even sick people's clothing" among the trash, while questioning the neglect of the facility.
Regarding the bleak situation, López was categorical: "There is no longer any shame," and she noted that even "clothes of the deceased" may have been deposited there.
The comments posted alongside the video reflect the impact the scene has on viewers. "Not even the deceased are respected," wrote one person.
Another described Havana as "a corpse in the sun," while someone summarized the situation with a more straightforward phrase: "We are living in the trash."
The crisis is not limited to the Centro Habana installation. During 2026, there have been reports of burials in cardboard coffins, transfers of bodies in ox carts, waiting times of 12 to 14 hours to bury bodies, as well as the suspension of burials at the Vicente García cemetery in Las Tunas due to lack of capacity.
The activist Lara Crofs recently described the Cuban necrological services system as "completely collapsed".
The dumpster installed next to the Zanja Funeral Home now adds another image to the deterioration of a service that, even at the final moments of life for Cubans, faces the consequences of the crisis.
In April 2024, an independent media investigation by the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep) documented windows with broken glass, peeling walls, and stains in the facility.
A official from the Necrological Services of Centro Habana acknowledged that maintaining the funeral home represented an "expenditure of resources that currently does not exist."
The accumulation of waste around the funeral home occurs in a city that is facing a garbage collection crisis. Earlier this year, only 44 of the 106 garbage trucks in Havana were operational, which is 41% of the fleet, while the capital generates between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of solid waste daily.
The capital authorities introduced 20 trucks and over 240 containers from China with an investment exceeding one million euros, but they acknowledged that these resources "are not the definitive solution."
The persistence of improvised landfills in densely populated areas highlights the extent of the problem.
The deterioration of sanitary conditions becomes increasingly significant amid a complex epidemiological situation. The Global Dengue Observatory reports 7,133 cases of dengue in Cuba so far this year, which is 7.4 times higher than the expected level, while the Ministry of Public Health has acknowledged an increase in dengue, diarrheas, and other diseases.
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