The Havana government has deployed community service workers to collect trash. Who gathered on the streets of the city. This happens when some neighbors in the municipality of Díaz de Octubre burn a landfill built in the middle of the road.
“On the night of Friday, January 5, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Residents of the Lawton neighborhood decided to set fire to the garbage collected at the corners of San Anastasio and Carmen streets, in Díaz de Octubre Municipality. “This is what has been reported by a neighbor who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals,” audiovisual producer Adrián Martínez Cádiz said on Facebook.
“The lack of fuel on the island has exacerbated the situation at landfills, affecting communities and causing garbage to reach the middle of the streets in many areas of the capital,” Martínez recalled.
The above publication concluded by citing “the inability of the government to manage basic issues”. A situation that is “becoming a cause of concern for Cubans” amid “shortages of food, medicine and fuel, among other things”.
After this incident, Havana officials organized communal service units to begin collecting solid waste throughout the capital. The Municipal Administration Council (CAM) of the Plaza de la Revolution published photos of the operation on its Facebook profile with the following message: “No stop. Days without chargers (vehicles used in garbage collection), but this does not stop the “continuation” of work. Today the collection was manual, but the work was done in many popular councils.”
Sero’s CAM commented sarcastically on the collection on his wall: “Today is Sunday, the body knows it and our communes workers know it too. In the municipality of Cerro we do not stop, we continue and we do not stop.” The CAM of Old Havana wrote in another publication: “It began with the efforts of communal workers in the municipality who continue to give priority to the avenues and interiors of the popular councils to keep Havana beautiful.”
But the operation did not end the accumulation of garbage on the streets of Havana. In the publication made by CAM of Boyeros about the collection, a user identified as Lidia Lilizo uploaded the image of the garbage heap with the following message: “Well, they must have just arrived at the Wajay garbage dump Because trucks can no longer enter the agriculture and market to drop off goods, and it is disgusting in the middle of the city. Her nearby neighbors can’t even open the windows because their house is full of flies, rats roam freely and since Friday they took away the big garbage tank. Which had been worn for about a month and was therefore full”.
Another internet user named Ernesto Mederos also uploaded a photo of collectors filled with garbage. “Sibney Distribution, Council 4 of San Miguel del Padrón. 11 days without collection. Ah, but cars from Guanabacoa, Marianao, Cerro, Centro Habana and Regla enter here to unload the raw materials extracted from the garbage heaps on the Guaira de Melena highway,” Mederos decried.
Havana has suffered from the accumulation of garbage on its streets for years due to the inability of the authorities to collect it. In mid-November 2023, the official media recognized it Only 68% of the waste generated daily in Havana is collected, with the rest lying on the streets and in public places. “Every day 4,000 to 5,000 cubic meters of garbage is left on the road,” the report said.