Twelve Corners in Havana, Cuba

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Photo Feature by Juan Suarez

HAVANA TIMES — Yesterday afternoon walking along San Benigno Street in the Havana municipality of 10 de Octubre I noticed that on the first two corners of the block garbage was piled up on the street. At first I wasn’t surprised since such is commonplace in the Cuban capital.

However, I kept walking and at the next corner on the right was greeted by another pile of trash. On the left was more garbage. I walked just five blocks and took twelve pictures of different corners all littered with garbage. Flies were the masters of the streets. Have a look at the pictures, the images speak for themselves.

Click on the thumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery. On your PC or laptop, you can use the directional arrows on the keyboard to move within the gallery. On cell phones use the keys on the screen.

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15 thoughts on “Twelve Corners in Havana, Cuba”

  • hola Juan, it was a pleasure to walk the streets of Havana with you, enjoy the URBEX

  • I hired a car and freely travelled around Cuba going through towns and Cities .The only garbage seen was after the May 1st marches all piled up after the event.People living in the towns were often out cleaning around the area they lived, their houses/flats needed restoring but like little palaces inside .The Cuban people/children were clean healthy and happy.

  • Your sense of humour is a little bit callous, don’t you think?

  • The Cuban authorities keep the streets of the tourist zones clean & garbage free, but the outlying barrios are a disgrace. The clean streets of Habana Viejo are the “staged photos”.

  • Looks like MANY street corners in many major cities around the world. People just won’t pick it up anymore, not even the people being paid to.

  • Excuse me on many travels around the U. S.A. garbage was the first sign you were near a town or City. As for Cuba traveling around the streets in towns and City’s were spotless and Cubans very proud of where they lived.Staged photos does not make it true.

  • Piles of garbage ANYWHERE…is horrible…in Havana or Detroit…..hey I’ve seen it in beautiful Vancouver

  • The fruits of 64 years of communism.

  • What about the collection system? People are letting themselves down.

  • Walter, first of all, there are NOT many places in the US with streets like this. When there are streets like this, it is due to a work stoppage with the Sanitation workers or some sort of civic disruption. Besides, does the garbage in Cuba stink any less or attract fewer rats when the garbage piles up in Poughkeepsie or San Bernadino? The reason the garbage piles up in Guantanamo is mostly due to the frequent breakdown of the garbage trucks. In Havana, the garbage workers CHOOSE to pick up the garbage more slowly as it allows them to work AFTER HOURS to make money on the side (on the left as they say in Cuba) when neighbors take the initiative to pay for the pickup out of their own pocket. Stop making excuses for Castros failures and even more childish, stop using flaws in the US to defend Castro failures in Cuba.

  • Why does this happen? When the government crushes personal initiative, when self-responsibilty is considered a crime, why sticking your neck out marks your for trouble, when you are struggling just to get by each day, ….who the hell has the time or inclination to clean up the perpetual mess?

  • This is sad. In my visits to Havana over the years, I did see a few such piles, but not as bad as these. Made me wish I had a shovel and bags. Wondered by people living nearby didn’t clean them up. In these photos there are what look like empty containers.

    We have streets like this in many places in the US, but whenever it happens it shows that both the residents and city services are not healthy.

    On my first trip in 1997, I was with a group and we fixed up and painted a building on La Rampa. Saw it some years later and still looked OK. But there always was a building along the Malacon that had an ugly broken stairway half suspended in the air, and near downtown. I wanted to know why it was left like that and thought there should be someway to both record and repair such dangerous conditions.

    I hope your photos push some peoples consciences, and maybe stir someone to volunteer. Instead of a beer or dancing party, maybe a cleanup bash!

    After these comments I will have to go and clean up the gutters outside my neighbors houses. I am getting too old for this, but I will feel better.

  • I would love to hear from those who still supporting the disaster. Who they going to blame.

  • You’ve merely stumbled across a few art “installations!” You’ve heard of “The Ashcan School”; these are of the new UNashcan School!

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