English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
In the neighborhood of Luyanó, residents scattered the garbage until it blocked the street; in other areas of Havana they have set fire to the mountains of trash 14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 April 2024 — A narrow path for motorcycles and bicycles was all that was left this Monday on Reforma Street, at … Continue reading “The Mountains of Garbage Cause Distress Over the The State’s Inefficiency”
14ymedio, Havana, December 26, 2023 — Cases of leptospirosis are increasing, the health authorities of Guantánamo announced on Monday, after informing the official press that this year 44 people are suspected of having contracted the disease, 12 more than those counted in 2022. So far, they acknowledged, two deaths have been reported in the municipalities … Continue reading “Leptospirosis Skyrockets in Cuba, the Country of Rats and Mountains of Garbage”
People must deposit solid waste in designated areas starting at 6:00 p.m. 14ymedio, Havana, 21 August 2024 — Havana’s municipality of Cerro has turned to a private company to collect the mountains of garbage that have accumulated for months in the streets. In the area, one of the most densely populated in the Cuban capital, … Continue reading “A Private Company Is Hired in Havana To Collect Mountains of Accumulated Garbage”
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”
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”
Tires, batteries and spare parts are lacking for the 28 garbage trucks donated by Japan Due to the shortage of personnel, prisoners have been ordered to perform these tasks The La Güinera market is closed for a month due to the poor sanitary conditions 14ymedio, Madrid, 7 October 2024 — After rebuffing the insistent reports … Continue reading “Three Garbage Dumps in Havana ‘Collapsed’ After Exceeding ‘Authorized Height Levels’”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 September 2024 — From the satellite cameras it looks like a stain on the outskirts of Matanzas. Those who walk by have the impression of visiting a museum of Cuban ruins from the last 20 years. It is the city’s landfill, “founded” – if the word can be used – in 2003 … Continue reading “Wild Pigs, Vultures and Dumpster Divers Live From the Garbage in a Giant Landfill in Matanzas, Cuba”
The trash collection containers were resold for up to 15,000 pesos, reported the official Fuerza del Pueblo website. 14ymedio, Havana, April 15, 2024 — The head of Comunales de Santa Clara, in Villa Clara, has been arrested for diverting garbage collection cans for resale in the informal market. According to the state Fuerza del Pueblo … Continue reading “Cuba: The Head of Comunales de Santa Clara Was Arrested for Reselling Garbage Containers”
14ymedio, Miguel García, Havana, 15 January 2024 — Not even the Cuban military are saved from the mountains of garbage that are seen everywhere on the Island. The neighborhoods of Villanueva 2 and Villanueva 3, in the city of Holguín, where hundreds of workers of the Ministry of the Interior reside, is about to be … Continue reading “Not Even the ‘Integrated’ Neighborhoods in Cuba Are Saved From Garbage Piles Everywhere”
14ymedio, Juan Matos, Manzanillo (Granma Province), 31 December 2023 — It has been so many days since no one has collected the garbage on the streets of Manzanillo that the mountains of waste already have a uniform, ocher color. Due to the effect of the salt air and the indifference of the Community Services, the … Continue reading “Cubans in Manzanillo Try to Collect the Garbage Themselves Due to the Apathy of the Authorities”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 November 2023 — In Luyanó the word has spread. If the mountains of garbage are reported in the independent media, it is very likely that Community Services will arrive shortly afterwards to collect them. The equation is clear: call a reporter to take photos and testimonies and, within 24 … Continue reading “Luyano, Turned into Cuba’s Most Famous Garbage Dump, Screams for Help”
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, November 23, 2023 — “Luyanó is going to become a giant bonfire.” The warning, recently published on a Facebook group of residents in the Havana neighborhood, was accompanied by a photo of Rodríguez Este Street, between Manuel Pruna and Juan Alonso: a formidable garbage dump, which neighbors had been denouncing for weeks, in flames. … Continue reading “Luyano, Cuba’s Garbage Capital, ‘Is Going to Become a Giant Bonfire’”
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 3 January 2022 — The rattle of the Community Services trucks has people climbing sidewalks to make way for the giant. Two men get out and push a garbage container cracked on its sides. Among flies and shouts, customers waiting to shop at the Plaza de Carlos III see the garbage … Continue reading “Garbage Collection in Cuba: From Creative Resistance to Desperate Patch”
