Decaying Facilities and Official Silence: The Struggle of Ciudad Escolar Libertad in Havana

Roberto Suárez, a photojournalist from the state-run newspaper Juventud Rebelde, reported on Thursday the severe neglect and deterioration plaguing Ciudad Escolar Libertad, located in Havana's Marianao district. The sports areas are littered with broken benches, and recreational facilities are left to deteriorate while authorities remain inactive.

A video shared on Facebook depicts the baseball, basketball, and volleyball courts where students partake in physical education activities, surrounded by benches smashed with sledgehammers, seemingly without any arrests made in connection to the vandalism.

"Look at this, just look here. Someone attacked it with a sledgehammer, it seems. I hope they caught whoever did this madness," Suárez comments as he walks through the premises in the video.

In the comments of his post, Suárez emphasized that the issue is far more complex than isolated acts of vandalism. "There has never been an effective protection system. Low wages, inflation, and the lack of autonomy for Ciudad Escolar to manage its own resources make it increasingly difficult to preserve this heritage," he highlighted.

Suárez also noted that the deterioration isn't a recent development: "I'm talking about damage spanning years, even back to when Obama brought resources into this country."

The complex's pools, which could have been utilized for sports and recreation, were neglected until they became unusable, compounded now by the water shortages affecting Marianao.

The public's reaction in the video comments reflects a mix of outrage and helplessness.

A local who trained there during the pandemic remarked, "I used to train there during COVID, and it was in excellent condition. Unbelievable!"

Another commenter described a systematic pattern of theft that extends beyond broken benches. "All sports areas are destroyed, schools have pipes, windows, and whatever they can rip out stolen, it’s vandalism at any hour. Very unfortunate, but apparently, no one does anything despite countless reports, leaving everything on paper."

The sense of lawlessness is another common thread among the reactions. "This is happening in broad daylight, right in front of everyone, and no one reports anything," noted another citizen, while a third directly blamed the regime: "The crime and lack of control by the government, which doesn't take a firm stance against these social disorders."

Irony wasn't lost on some regarding official rhetoric about decentralization: "And they want municipalities to have autonomy," a user remarked.

The decline of Ciudad Escolar Libertad is not an isolated incident. In October 2025, students from the same complex were evacuated due to a suspected fire or explosion, yet the government offered no official explanation.

The phenomenon of vandalism against urban and school infrastructure is widespread across Havana. Streets in Centro Habana were likened to war zones this week, and in April, the XI Festival Cinema in Alamar was documented in complete ruins, with rusted seats and vegetation growing through the debris.

Ciudad Escolar Libertad was declared a National Monument in 2008, graduating nearly 300,000 students in its first 60 years. Suárez concluded with a question the government has yet to answer: "Can the Marianao government really not stop this situation?"