Union de Reyes Agricultural Airport

The closure was a direct result of economic collapse. Cuba's highly mechanized agricultural sector was heavily dependent on Soviet subsidies, fuel, aircraft, and spare parts. With the end of this support, the state-run agricultural aviation authority, Empresa Nacional de Servicios Aéreos (ENSA), could no longer afford to operate its large fleet of Antonov An-2 crop-dusting aircraft. The lack of fuel, parts, and agrochemicals made the extensive network of agricultural airfields, including Union de Reyes, economically unviable and operationally obsolete.

The airport is completely abandoned for aviation purposes. An analysis of satellite imagery of the coordinates (22.803719, -81.498041) reveals a decaying asphalt runway. The surface is heavily cracked, with significant vegetation overgrowth. The former runway is now used by locals as an access road for farm vehicles and is also utilized for drying agricultural products, such as grains or beans, in the sun. There is no remaining aviation infrastructure, such as hangars or control towers, and the site is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding farmland.

Union de Reyes Agricultural Airport was a key component of Cuba's state-controlled, industrialized agricultural infrastructure during the Cold War. Its sole purpose was to serve as a base for aerial application aircraft. From this strip, planes would take off for crop dusting, seeding, fertilization, and pest control missions, primarily supporting the vast sugar cane plantations in the Matanzas province, which were the backbone of the Cuban economy. The airport represents an era of large-scale, chemically-intensive farming that was practiced in Cuba with Soviet support.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airport. The economic and agricultural paradigm that necessitated its existence has vanished. Cuba's current agricultural practices are less centralized and mechanized, and the country lacks the financial resources to restore and operate a small, specialized airfield. The site will almost certainly continue its decay and informal use by the local agricultural community.