In Matanzas, Cuba, residents of 13-story buildings are exhausted due to non-functional elevators. Of the four such buildings, three have serious elevator breakdowns, some out of service for years. This particularly affects elderly and ill residents, amid a lack of maintenance and inadequate responses from authorities.
The 13-story buildings in Matanzas, inaugurated in the 1980s along the road to Varadero, have become sources of problems due to lack of maintenance. Three of the four lack operational elevators, generating insecurity and reducing the quality of life for families.
A resident on the 11th floor in the El Polinesio building recounts: “The elevator hasn’t worked for months, and it’s not even that old. We’ve contacted the Housing office, but they only give us half-answers”. After cancer surgery, she cannot strain herself and spends weeks unable to leave her apartment. “The stairways are in bad condition, and like me, many elderly neighbors suffer. No one responds, no one provides a solution”.
Administrator Dasiel, responsible for 154 apartments, highlights the authorities' apathy. “My job is difficult, and the lack of responses from the Housing office makes it even more complicated”. He notes additional issues like winds near the sea, garbage in green areas, faulty handrails, deteriorated stairways, and the facade peeling at the entrance.
In El Polinesio, a rooftop restaurant leased to a private business worsens the situation. It previously had its own elevator for customers and cargo, but now they refuse to repair it and use the residents' elevator for merchandise, which Dasiel fears will prolong the issue.
In Las Panaderías, another building, the elevator was out for over two years until residents' efforts before the Council of State led to a new installation. Ramón, 72, who maintains it, explains: “I only interrupted during the covid pandemic. With blackouts, the control panel has problems—it won’t stop before the 4th floor”. The provincial brigade prioritizes Varadero hotels, he says, and his working conditions are poor: 12-hour shifts for a symbolic salary, with risks during power cuts.
Firefighters, when rescuing trapped people, sometimes damage equipment. One resident reports: “In our building, weeks ago, firefighters hacked the wooden door to the machine room on the rooftop with axes”. The energy crisis further strains the machinery. Some neighbors lower baskets from balconies for deliveries, while others climb stairs carrying heavy loads like gas cylinders, with no distinction between the healthy and the sick.
Life in these buildings remains a daily struggle due to poor Housing planning, spare parts shortages, and official apathy.
