English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
What was once a prosperous establishment in the center of San José de las Lajas is now a ruin overrun by waste and mosquitoes. 14ymedio, San José de Las Lajas, Julio César Contreras, April 3, 2026 – At high noon, when the sun beats down on the street and only the faint sound of a … Continue reading “El Tostadero, the Cuban Grocery Store That Ended Up Devoured by Garbage”
The city’s portals display objects rescued from trash piles 14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, March 19, 2026 / Caruso wakes me up. The rooster in my neighborhood has lost track of time; at three in the morning, he lets out a loud, clear crow that pulls me out of bed. He’s been marking our awakenings for … Continue reading “Havana Chronicles: Reina, the Stately Havana Street Where Garbage is Sold”
The newborn was found inside a box, on Martí Street, between Máximo Gómez and Béquer. 14ymedio, Havana, March 15, 2026 – Residents of the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa found the body of a newborn baby in a garbage dump on Friday. According to residents of the area who spoke with 14ymedio, the baby was found … Continue reading “The Discovery of a Newborn’s Body in a Garbage Dump Shocks Residents of Guanabacoa”
Given the severity of the public health emergency, military personnel and civilians have been activated to collect solid waste 14ymedio / EFE, Havana, February 28, 2026 – Hundreds of brigades took to the streets of Havana this Friday to collect the mountains of accumulated garbage flooding the city, a public health problem that is now … Continue reading “Brigades Mobilize To Respond to the Garbage Crisis in Havana”
Authorities warn of the “serious health effects” of waste incineration 14ymedio, Havana, Darío Hernández, 23 February 2026 — “The garbage dump on the corner of my street is set on fire almost every day. There are times when the neighborhood is shrouded in mist, and it’s not mist, it’s smoke.” The scene Tony describes isn’t … Continue reading “With Both Municipal Services and Residents Burning the Garbage, Havana Is Covered in Toxic Smoke”
Desperate due to the lack of trucks, neighbors set the garbage on fire 14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, February 16, 2026 – – Just as mountains of garbage have proliferated on every corner of Havana in recent months, so too has the illegal burning of it. At dawn or dusk, day or night, neighbors set fire … Continue reading “Illegal Garbage Burning Begins to Choke Havana”
“Regla is one of the cleanest municipalities,” boasts a municipal employee, broom and dustpan in hand. 14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, December 12, 2025 – On the streets of Havana, the filth no longer surprises anyone. What is truly shocking is looking closely at those who, despite everything, continue sweeping. This newspaper approached two street sweepers … Continue reading “For Their Daily Fight Against Garbage, Havana’s Street Sweepers Earn About Ten Dollars a Month”
The municipality of Mayabeque is experiencing one of its worst hygiene crises in decades 14ymedio, San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque), Julio César Contreras, November 22, 2025 — At five in the afternoon, when a reddish light falls on the crumbling buildings of the Military Housing Complex in San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque), the … Continue reading “Cuba: Mosquitoes, Garbage, and Chikungunya Are Rampant in the Military Neighborhood of San José De Las Lajas”
With each movement, the flies return, and the stench sneaks through the shutters of a nearby building 14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya, October, 23, 2025 — It was Wednesday, and at the corner of Factor and Conill, two workers from Communal Services are facing an enemy that already seems mythological: one of the many mountains … Continue reading “Shovels Make Little Headway Against the Monstrous Piles of Garbage in Havana”
From several provinces, Cubans demand a mobilization like the one in Havana 14ymedio, Holguín, October 6, 2025 — The “offensive” that took place this weekend with the garbage collection in Havana is having an undesirable effect for the authorities. From several provinces, residents are calling for a similar mobilization in their territories to remove the … Continue reading ““This Is Not Havana, but Send the Military To Collect Garbage,” Cubans Demand in Holguín”
The market will be occupied mainly by self-employed workers who had to leave the nearby Feria de los Chinos 14ymedio, Holguín, Miguel García, October 12, 2025 — “A pigsty” is how the neighbors describe the new market for the sale of food and other products that is built a few meters from a polluted stream … Continue reading “Between Dirty Water and Garbage a New Market Is Built in Holguín”
Residents fear that the epidemiological crisis affecting other provinces will spread to their city. 14ymedio, Guantánamo, 9 October 2025 — “There’s garbage everywhere,” Guantánamo resident Héctor López Pérez summed up with dismay. The trash piling up everywhere has turned a city that was once considered “among the cleanest in Cuba” into a series of mountains … Continue reading “Guantánamo, a City Turned Into a Garbage Dump”
“The Community Services Company has left all this dirt on purpose,” complains a member from the parish of San Pedro Apóstol. 14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, July 13, 2025 — “May the Lord protect us from so much garbage.” The phrase, pronounced by an elderly man who raises his gaze to the bell tower of … Continue reading “The Mountain of Garbage Around a Church in Matanzas Reaches Levels of Heresy”
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, May 22, 2025 — The Yayabo River, which suffers from 35 degrees of heat and a drought, has been reduced to a mere stream for weeks and is barely flowing. The undergrowth and garbage have blocked its course; the steam of summer in the tropics makes it impassable, and given … Continue reading “The Yayabo River in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba is Dying from Drought and Garbage”
In the midst of disaster and plague, a graffiti: “I am Fidel. Thank you for the country you left us.” 14ymedio, José Lassa / Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 6 April 2025 — What appeared first? The “I am Fidel” sign on a battered wall in Guanabacoa or the garbage dump located next to it? The hand … Continue reading “The Garbage Has Destroyed Guanabacoa’s Great Treasure, Its Waters and Springs”