The Havana government has mobilized community services workers to collect garbage which accumulates on the streets of the city. This is after some neighbors in the municipality of Díaz de Octubre burned the landfill they had built in the middle of the street.
“On the night of Friday, January 5, around 11:00 p.m., Residents of the Lawton neighborhood decided to set fire to the trash that had accumulated at the corner of San Anastasio and Carmen streets., in the municipality of Diez de Octubre. This was discovered by a neighbor who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals,” audiovisual producer Adrian Martínez Cadiz reported on Facebook.
“The lack of fuel on the island has exacerbated the landfill situation,” Martínez recalled, “affecting communities and littering the streets in many neighborhoods of the capital.”
The aforementioned publication concluded by referring to the “inability of the government to manage fundamental issues”. The situation “increasingly worries Cubans” amid “shortages of food, medicine and fuel, among others”.
After this incident, Havana authorities mobilized communal services units to start collecting solid waste across the capital. The Municipal Administration Council (CAM) of the Plaza de la Revolution published images of the operation on its Facebook profile with the following message: “No stopping. A day without a charger (a vehicle used to collect waste), but it does not stop “continuity. of work Today the collection was manual, but the work was done in many popular councils.”
Serrano CAM commented sarcastically on the collection on his wall: “Today is Sunday, the body knows it and so do our Communeless workers. In Cerro Municipality we don’t stop, we continue and we don’t stop.” The CAM of Old Havana wrote in another publication: “It starts in the municipality with the efforts of community activists who continue to prioritize the streets and interiors of the popular councils to keep Havana beautiful.”
But the operation carried out did not end the accumulation of garbage in the streets of Havana. In a publication by Boyeros’ CAM about the collection, a user identified as Lydia Lizzo uploaded an image of a garbage dump with the following message: “Well, they must have just arrived at the garbage dump right now because the trucks can take the garbage. A long time in agriculture and the market. Enter abandoned merchandise, and it’s disgusting in the middle of town. Neighbors around him can’t even open a window because their house is infested with flies, rats roam freely and since Friday they have taken away a large garbage tank. which had been worn for about a month and was therefore full.”
Another internet user, identified as Ernesto Mederos, also uploaded a photo of the garbage collectors. “Distribution of Cibo, Council of San Miguel del Padron 4. 11 days without collection. Ah, but cars from Guanabacoa, Marianao, Cerro, Centro Habana and Reglan enter here to unload the raw materials extracted from the garbage dump on the highway of Guira de Malena,” reproached Mederos.
Havana has suffered from the accumulation of garbage on its streets for years due to the inability of officials to collect it. In mid-November 2023, the official media recognized it In Havana, only 68% of the waste generated daily is collected, with the rest remaining on roads and public spaces. “Every day 4,000 to 5,000 cubic meters of garbage is left on the street,” the report noted.