A nighttime photograph shared on social media shows a massive pile of trash accumulated on a sidewalk in Holguín, featuring black bags, cardboard, wood, and mixed waste, in an area with bars, food kiosks, and even a children's playground.
"It is distressing what is happening with the trash at the corner of Plaza de la Marqueta," denounced the user Claudia Pérez Suárez in the group Facebook "calle 13 Holguín the best prices."
"Nobody cares, neither the plaza bosses nor Comunales, since the garbage truck comes in the mornings and doesn't pick it up. Let the Plaza de la Marqueta bosses awaken their conscience, as they profit significantly from those bars, and come up with a solution, since Comunales is not interested," he demanded.
The image generated a flood of comments pointing to the Empresa de Servicios Comunales as responsible, but also to the private businesses in the area.
A user claimed that a large part of that trash comes from the bars.
“If Comunales doesn’t pick it up, then they should pay someone to collect it, since they make millions of pesos every day,” suggested another.
"Let them charge taxes to everyone who has businesses in that area so that they keep the whole place clean, and set conditions for them to dispose of the waste they generate," proposed another.
A third person criticized: "I call that a lack of management, abandonment, because cart drivers who work, if they are paid well, exceed expectations."
Far from attributing the problem to a lack of fuel, several residents pointed out that the collection vehicles do circulate regularly to the Sanfiel landfill. "They're trucks and more trucks, meaning it's not a lack of oil; it's a lack of organization and interest in keeping our city clean," wrote a user.
"You can't live there anymore, a daycare where most of the children are small and prone to illness. And on top of that, there are kiosks selling food products, which are disgusting to buy due to the number of flies covering them," warned another commentator.
Another internet user described the situation in broader terms: "Our city is already disgusting; there are huge trash piles everywhere, in the central square, in front of the old Santiago Habana terminal, along Martí Street, there is trash on every corner. It is revolting to pass by behind the Moncada building, not even the city center is spared."
The complaint is not an isolated case. At the end of September, neighbors in the Lenin neighborhood reported more than a month without waste collection next to a daycare and a school. In August, a dumpster was surrounding a primary school just days before the start of the school year.
The health situation is alarming. Holguín is facing active focal points of Aedes aegypti, and the Pan American Health Organization donated 50 fumigation equipment to the province in September. The Ministry of Public Health has acknowledged an increase in dengue, diarrhea, and hepatitis directly linked to sanitation problems and waste collection.
Holguín, which was historically recognized as one of the cleanest cities in Cuba, has completely lost that distinction.
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