Cuba’s iconic capital Havana is drowning in a sea of uncollected trash as a critical shortage of fuel and vehicle parts affects garbage collection on the island crippled by sanctions and economic woes.
Mountains of rubbish on the streets give off a foul odor and attract clouds of flies in several parts of the city of 2.1 million people, which has three open-air landfills.
For a lack of bins, residents leave their trash bags in the street, exacerbating the stench already emanating from overflowing sewage pipes.
“My kitchen looks out on the garbage dump,” Lissette Valle, a 40-year-old homemaker, told AFP.
“We have to cover everything. If we don’t, we end up eating flies, mosquitos…”
Official data show more than 30,000 cubic meters — about 1,000, 20-foot shipping containers — accumulate on the streets of Havana every day.
A year ago it was less than a third as much.
According to the provincial directorate of municipal services, the capital has just over half the equipment it needs for waste collection, with 100 garbage trucks.
But the vehicles, which were a donation from Japan, started breaking down last year.
Due to US sanctions, the communist country cannot obtain the parts it needs to repair its ramshackle fleet of trucks, local