Díaz-Canel Surveys Container Homes in Holguín as a "Solution" to Housing Crisis

In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa's devastating impact on eastern Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel made a trip to Holguín on Thursday to assess the damage and "boost recovery efforts," according to official state media.

The Cuban Presidency released images of Díaz-Canel touring the Military Construction Unit of Perdenales, where shipping containers are being converted into homes for those who lost everything in the storm.

This initiative is being touted as a "swift and comfortable alternative," and the regime is promoting it as a showcase of creativity and efficiency amidst an ongoing crisis.

Despite this portrayal, the government’s narrative of success conceals a widespread sense of precariousness.

In a nation where numerous families are still struggling to recover from previous hurricanes, Díaz-Canel's visit comes during an unprecedented housing emergency, exacerbated by material shortages, low wages, and institutional neglect.

The transformation of shipping containers into housing has emerged as one of the Cuban government's most defended projects in recent months.

Promoted as an "efficient and sustainable" solution, these metal structures aim to mitigate the housing shortage that has plagued the country for decades.

However, rather than representing architectural innovation, the project underscores the state’s profound inability to maintain a construction system that has been in decline for years.

Unlike in other countries where container homes are built with thermal insulation, proper ventilation, raised roofs, and protective materials, the Cuban versions lack these basic features.

National television broadcasts show containers stacked without visible insulation, climate control systems, and only simple aluminum louver windows, insufficient for the extreme heat of eastern Cuba.

Experts and locals warn that, far from offering comfort, these "metal homes" could become heat traps during the day and uninhabitable spaces during the frequent nighttime blackouts.

Social media users have mockingly dubbed these new communities as "microwave homes."

The Ministry of Construction itself has admitted that the initiative is "a temporary variant" to expedite the delivery of housing.

However, in Cuba, temporary solutions often become permanent, and the displaced fear being stuck in a makeshift solution that fails to address the underlying problem.

In developed countries, container homes can serve as an eco-friendly and functional alternative thanks to private investment and access to specialized materials.

In Cuba, however, they are implemented in a context of economic collapse, uncontrolled inflation, and a total lack of basic resources, making it impossible to replicate those standards.

Official images display structures without thermal bases or visible reinforcements, raising questions about their safety in future storms or hurricanes.

There's also a lack of information on electrical or plumbing systems, in a country where power outages are frequent, and water supply is inconsistent.

The official narrative insists this is a "quick response" and a "demonstration of the country's ability to overcome challenges," but the reality is starkly different: Cuba continues to rely on political voluntarism and propaganda to mask the collapse of its infrastructure and the absence of real housing policies.

In Holguín, as in many other provinces, the victims of Hurricane Melissa not only face the loss of their homes but also bear the burden of a system that neither seems capable nor willing to provide them with a dignified life.