Yoani Sánchez Exposes Air Pollution Crisis Due to Waste Burning in Havana

Yoani Sánchez, a journalist and the director of 14ymedio, released a video this Tuesday on her X account, highlighting the open-air burning of trash in El Vedado, one of Havana's most central neighborhoods. Her message was clear: "This is what we breathe every day in this city."

In the video, Sánchez captures plumes of smoke filling the public spaces, pointing out that the trash piles up because the waste collection service has essentially collapsed. She noted, "The garbage burns, either spontaneously or set on fire by frustrated residents as a form of protest."

This report surfaces just nine days after firefighters had to extinguish a fire at an impromptu dump site on the corner of 15 and K in Vedado, located near the national headquarters of the CDR and opposite a building of the Ministry of the Interior.

Structural Failures in Waste Management

The breakdown in the waste collection service stems from fundamental issues: as of February this year, only 44 of the 106 garbage trucks in the capital were operational due to a shortage of diesel and mechanical failures.

Havana produces between 24,000 and 30,000 cubic meters of solid waste daily, yet reports from 2026 indicate that up to 23,814 m³ went uncollected each day.

The city would need between 20,000 and 30,000 containers to manage this volume, yet it has only around 10,000. This shortfall has led to makeshift dumps appearing across streets, parks, and corners throughout the capital.

Public Reaction and Government Inaction

Frustrated by the government's lack of response, residents in numerous municipalities—including Regla, Diez de Octubre, Lawton, San Miguel del Padrón, Puentes Grandes, Centro Habana, Cerro, and Vedado—have resorted to burning accumulated waste, with some using it as a form of protest.

On Monday, Lawton residents set trash ablaze during a cacerolazo, and in May, similar actions occurred in Playa and El Vedado amid demonstrations against power outages.

Health and Environmental Impact

The incomplete combustion of waste releases harmful substances like carbon monoxide, dioxins, furans, and at least thirty other toxic compounds. The Cuban Neuroscience Center warned in February 2026 that these have severe health implications, especially for children, the elderly, and those with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.

This month, the Food Monitor Program declared the situation a public health emergency, also noting collapsed sewers and wastewater flowing through the streets of several Havana municipalities.

Even the Cuban Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment, Armando Rodríguez Batista, admitted on February 24, 2026, that burning trash "creates pollution, harms public health, and damages the environment," though he insisted the government neither encourages nor endorses the practice.

Authorities have officially sanctioned 24 controlled incineration sites as a temporary measure, according to an Infobae investigation, yet this has not addressed the root of the issue.

Sánchez has previously documented this crisis: on April 15, she reported on trash burning in Havana with the phrase "Havana smells like burning garbage," capturing from her balcony a scene of smoldering waste.

The fact that El Vedado, once one of the capital's affluent districts, now mirrors the conditions of its poorest municipalities underscores the widespread nature of a sanitary collapse that the Cuban regime has failed—and seems unwilling—to reverse.