The article below was published on October 10, 2025, by the Portal del Ciudadano de La Habana (Portal of the Havana Citizen), a website of Havana’s city government. It describes a concerted effort by local residents, the city administration, and private businesses to end the problem of trash accumulation in that part of Cuba’s capital city.

Since then, this problem has become more acute and widespread in Havana as a consequence of the U.S. oil blockade, which, since January 3, 2026, has stopped virtually all petroleum shipments from reaching Cuba. The resulting fuel shortage, has, among other things, made it difficult to almost impossible for garbage trucks to operate and regularly collect trash.

The setbacks due to this cruel and unusual escalation of the U.S. blockade notwithstanding, this article describes an example of the initiatives ordinary Cubans take to improve their daily lives in the middle of extreme adversities caused by Washington’s decades-old economic war.

We publish the article that follows for the information of our readers. The headline, subheadings, text, and photos below are from the original. Translation is by World-Outlook.

— World-Outlook editors

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Cuba Street: A Model of Community Hygiene in the Heart of Old Havana

By Marisol Ramírez Palacios

“We are the only place with a street named after our country,” Ángel Aguilera Castillo (Angelito) says proudly. He is the president of the Catedral People’s Council, the local government for the Catedral voting district of the municipality of historic Old Havana. It is no coincidence that this major thoroughfare [Cuba Street] was chosen for the start of a project to solve one of the main complaints of voters: an accumulation of trash and debris, foul odors, and insalubrious conditions.

This initiative seeks to involve all local actors — residents and the floating population — in an experience of communal hygiene that in just under three months is already yielding encouraging results.

The trash problem is compounded by the geography of Old Havana, where it is difficult to place dumpsters on its main avenues because of the narrowness of many of its streets. Another complication is the growth of the private sector, with many restaurants and fast-food establishments, known as cafeterías.

The economic rebirth of this area, with various locales being leased [by the city], has eliminated previous spaces for the dumpsters. “We have lost practically 11 positions for dumpsters in a district with 12,000 inhabitants, where private employment has grown and the floating population is as high as 80,000 people,” Aguilera says. “Forty percent of dumpsters are broken due to operator mistreatment, and their replacement is delayed.” The combination of these factors created a critical situation. 

A solution named Ratoncito Blanco

In the face of this scenario, meetings with the Havana City Historian’s Office bore fruit: an innovative solution. The state-run Mipyme [an acronym in Spanish for micro, small, and medium enterprises] Ratoncito Blanco [Little White Mouse] was born, in effect a continuation of an idea of our eternal [city] historian, Eusebio Leal Spengler. The new project was inaugurated on Sept. 11 [2025], on what would have been his 83rd birthday, as a posthumous tribute.

The star of the initiative is a truck that travels down Cuba Street twice a day — at 7am and 7pm — to receive trash directly from the residents themselves. This has made it possible to empty 60 to 70 percent of domestic waste, reducing dependence on dumpsters.

Environmental sentries: the soul of the project

The strategy is complemented by the circulation of environmental sentries. These are [formerly] unemployed citizens from the district who take charge of keeping things clean and raising awareness among their neighbors. They are financed by the private sector, which benefits from cleaner, more attractive surroundings for their customers.

This group is headed by Niurka Alforis Castillo. She started out as an environmental sentry on her own block, eliminating a large focal point of garbage, and now she is the district’s hygiene coordinator.

“When I started out, people would make fun. Now I have 12 people asking for work,” she comments. She affectionately refers to her five disciplined coworkers as her jenízaros, to signify their loyalty and dedication. “They don’t just clean; they also help load the truck and alert the Aurora Enterprise [municipal garbage collection company] to illegal dumping.”

Stories of transformation

The impact is real on street corners that had become minidumps. The intersection of Aguiar and Tejadillo streets is now kept impeccably clean by Luis Alberto Núñez Hernández, “a gentleman who used to drink a lot and was rescued from that addiction,” she says enthusiastically. 

Testimonials like that of Geydis Barrios Cuello, a pharmacy administrator, confirm the change: “The garbage used to reach my office window. These people are the best thing that has happened to me.” Delvis Hernández Jiménez, an environmental sentry in her own neighborhood, adds, “I sweep the streets and keep a look out, so that people won’t get sick.”

Meanwhile, Niurka and her coworkers have taken the initiative and operate as an alternative Ratoncito service on another main street. “People are becoming more aware,” she says. “We’ve seen all of these diseases that have come up, and we are not going to propagate anymore.”

A walk through the Catedral district shows the change: the air smells different, and people’s faces reflect relief. The heritage of Leal is in the air — his love for the city, come to life in a community effort that is cleaning up the heart of Havana block by block.

An integral project

The project includes communication campaigns featuring posters and workshops for children, a plot of land that has been fenced for the organized disposal of [construction] debris — with plans for its reuse — and the delivery of small-sized dumpsters for business owners.

You can feel the enthusiasm in the air. “We’ve managed to eliminate trash accumulation on Cuba Street,” Aguilera announces. Future steps include extending Ratoncito Blanco’s services to the crowded O’Reilly Street, a public lighting project, and fresh paint for buildings.

At the address of 614 Habana Street, between Muralla and Teniente Rey streets, where Ratoncito Blanco has its main office, the enterprise’s director, Ricardo Rodríguez Rodríguez, provided details about the project as a whole, which is still in development but has been approved by the Ministry of Economy and Planning. He says he expects it to be formalized next month.

This project includes an infirmary with a doctor present at all times to provide services to the workers; a kitchen and lunchroom, already operating; bathrooms with showers and locker rooms, and an auditorium or theater hall that is almost finished. In the courtyard the street-sweeper push carts stand in a row, ready to continue the battle for a cleaner city, in the wake of the dream of our eternal Havana City Historian.

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