A buildup of sewage water is flooding the hallways of a building located at 460 Gabriel Street, in the Havana municipality of Cerro, where several families are reporting a lack of response from the authorities.
A video shared on Facebook by journalist José Luis Tan Estrada shows how wastewater flows through the halls of the building, while residents try to navigate between the puddles of contaminated water.
Two affected individuals confirmed in the comments of the post that they are directly suffering the consequences of the blockage. "We can’t stand this situation any longer. We’re going to die from so much infection," wrote a resident.
Another neighbor requested that the complaint reach the responsible authorities and demanded a solution. "I just hope it gets to the appropriate channels and that they resolve this deplorable situation that we've been enduring for quite some time," she expressed.
So far, no municipal or provincial authority has provided a public response regarding the issue.
El Cerro is one of the municipalities in Havana affected by the deterioration of the sewage system. According to a technical study cited by the Pan American Health Organization, only 18.9% of the wastewater in Havana is treated, highlighting the limitations of the capital's sanitation infrastructure.
At the end of October, a sinkhole at the corner of Amenidad and Cruz del Padre, within the municipality itself, filled with water after the rains, forcing pedestrians to look for alternatives to cross without falling into the hole. A repair had not been announced at that time either.
During the month itself, it became known that a family in the Bahía neighborhood, in the municipality of La Habana del Este, had been living with their home flooded with sewage and excrement for five months due to a construction project carried out by the Unión de Construcciones Militares for the state company Cupet, which obstructed three of the four drainage access points on the street.
In Santos Suárez, for its part, Luis Estévez Street has been described as an open sewer, a situation that residents have been reporting for over a year.
In October, dengue cases in Cuba exceeded 9.2 times the historical average, with over 11,000 infections reported across 134 municipalities, according to the Global Dengue Observatory. The accumulation of stagnant water and deficiencies in sanitation are part of the factors associated with the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
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