What was once one of the busiest and most well-stocked shopping centers in Havana now presents a radically different image: a video released this week shows Plaza Carlos III nearly empty, with numerous shops and spaces lacking merchandise and only a few customers walking through its aisles.
The images, posted on Facebook by the user Liena Lopez Delgado, stand in stark contrast to the past of the location: for years it was one of the main shopping centers in the Cuban capital, with departments for appliances, clothing, household items, and food that attracted thousands of families every weekend.
"Look at the Carlos III of today. Completely empty. This is no longer the Carlos III of before. They used to sell chicken, they sold everything," a man can be heard saying as he walks through the floors of the establishment in the video shared by Delgado.
In another part of the journey, the man summarizes what he sees with a phrase that says it all: "The hallways, two or three cats. Those who know that this used to be a place know that there used to be everything here. All these hallways were filled with things. Everything, everything. Empty, empty, empty, empty. Every day, we are moving backward."
The deterioration of Carlos III is not sudden. In February 2025, long lines were reported to buy eggs for 1,800 Cuban pesos per box, and in March of that year, a visitor described closed stores, poor lighting, and shuttered departments.
By October 2025, the center was already described as empty and silent, with a significant drop in visitor numbers and limited product availability.
In January 2026, the Cuban actor Ray Cruz posted a video on Instagram lamenting the state of the place where he grew up, which he described as “empty, with four children on two devices”.
In April 2026, Cubans who remembered the splendor of the place could only say “it was a wonder” when comparing it to its current state.
The deterioration of the Carlos III has occurred alongside the changes experienced by state foreign exchange trade. Cuba began opening stores selling in MLC in October 2019, a format that expanded in July 2020 to include food, hygiene products, and hardware.
At the same time, the Cuban government expanded direct sales in U.S. dollars in an increasing network of establishments throughout 2025, amid a partial dollarization of the economy and the gradual deterioration of the supply in numerous stores that operated in MLC.
The backdrop is a severe food crisis: according to the survey "In Cuba There Is Hunger 2025," 33.9% of the surveyed households reported that at least one family member went to bed hungry in the past year, while 94.9% of participants stated that they had experienced some level of restricted access to purchasing food during the same period.
The Carlos III was re-inaugurated on October 17, 1997, by the CIMEX Corporation following extensive renovations; the original building dates back to the mid-1950s and was introduced as one of the first shopping centers in Latin America.
Almost three decades after that reopening, this video shared on social media becomes the most recent portrait of an establishment that, like much of Cuban commerce, is moving relentlessly toward complete abandonment.
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