‘An epidemic of flies, rats, waste and foul odours’: health fears in Cuba as US oil blockade halts rubbish collection

As Trump ramps up pressure by cutting off fuel to the island, Havana’s refuse is rarely collected, forcing residents to burn it in the streets despite the pollution As thick smoke spread through the narrow streets of Havana, seeping into homes, schools and shops, Carlos Blanco, a chef, opened his bedroom window to see what was going on. “I saw a mist. But it wasn’t mist – it was smoke,” he says, describing the toxic smog emanating from a smouldering mountain of rubbish. As the US oil blockade...

By Alfie Pannell in Havana. Photographs by Euan Wallace