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Cubans are working to become more self-sufficient as the U.S. government tightens the economic noose on the communist island, a move that experts say is aimed at forcing a popular uprising and ushering in a new government.
A sharp increase in U.S. sanctions has suffocated Cubans just as vital oil shipments from Cuba have increased. Venezuela The event was disrupted after the United States attacked the South American country and arrested its leader.
The long-term effects of the cargo disruption have yet to reach Cuba, but the Cuban people are not waiting.
Some are installing solar panels, while others are growing their own crops or returning to a simpler way of life, one that is not dependent on technology or oil.
“This is how you survive,” José Angel Mendez Favel said. “It’s better to do it on your own.”
Mendez recently moved from downtown Havana Due to a severe power outage in Cuba, he was sent to a farm in the rural community of Lanao, Bacura. On the farm, he can cook with firewood and charcoal, something unimaginable in a dark city apartment.
Mendez said he didn’t know what to make of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Cuba, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He is stocking up on gasoline, charcoal and produce he started growing on his farm three months ago.
Mendez is also considering buying back the old horses he sold and replacing them with motorized equipment to transport the vegetables he sells at local markets.
“Horses don’t need fuel,” he said. “We need to go back to the past.”
“Very close to failure”
Before the United States attacked Venezuela and disrupted oil shipments to Cuba, the island was already suffering from prolonged power outages, soaring prices and a lack of basic goods.
With experts warning of a potentially catastrophic economic crisis, some wonder whether Cuba has reached a breaking point. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that will all but guarantee tariffs on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.
“Cuba is really a failing state,” he said recently.
But Cubans scoff at this notion, especially those who remember the so-called “Special Period.” Soviet Union Aid caused poverty in the 1990s, which eased when Venezuela became an ally under former President Hugo Chávez.
Yadián Silva, a nurse and classic car driver who has watched tourism decline, said Cubans are not stupid.
“We have problems, and we know we have a lot of problems,” he said. “But when things happen in Cuba, it’s because people really feel they should happen. Not because people from the outside say, ‘Do this.'”
On a recent weeknight, tens of thousands of Cubans, carrying blazing torches, took part in an annual parade honoring national hero José Martí. Many of them are college students.
“We are a dignified people who want to move forward, who want to prosper, who do not believe in threats and will not be intimidated by any revenge from our enemies,” said Sheyla Ibatao Ruíz, a 21-year-old law student. “If we must take up arms, we will be the first to do so.”
Before the march began, a host addressed a large audience that included Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Litza Elena González Desdín, president of the University Union, mentioned Trump in a speech, saying: “This is not an act of nostalgia, but a call to action.”
A day later, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau noted that the United States embraced Matti “because he shares our passion for freedom.”
“We hope that by 2026, Cubans will finally be able to exercise their fundamental freedoms,” Landau said in a recording played Wednesday at a small gathering at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. “The communist Castro regime is crumbling; it will not last long. After 67 years of a failed revolution that betrayed the Cuban people, now is the time for the change the people of the island crave.”
“We can ride bikes”
Last September, Ángel Eduardo started a small business installing solar panels. He calls it “ConVoltage,” a word that has a double meaning in Cuba and can mean doing something well.
He said he was tired of studying in the dark and being forced to earn his degree as an automation control engineer by writing on a notebook instead of a computer.
Eduardo started by installing a light bulb in his home and eventually learned how to install a solar system with the help of friends, Chat GPT and social media.
He has now installed dozens of systems across Cuba, averaging one to two a day since November on an island where average daily power demand exceeds 3,000 megawatts, with only about half available during peak times.
Eduardo said he has seen a surge in calls from people seeking solar systems in Havana since Venezuelan oil shipments were disrupted.
Growing his business is something 62-year-old Niuvis Bueno Zavala has been thinking about. A retired Russian translator for the Cuban government, she now runs a cabin on the beach, selling drinks but not food.
“I’ve never had it this hard,” she said, adding that she might start selling homemade food. “There is always a helping hand to help us. But now those helping hands cannot reach us. We are blocked from all sides.”
Many Cubans have condemned the embargo, including retired pilot Pedro Carbonel.
The 73-year-old recently waited more than two hours to buy gas. He said Cubans must keep fighting.
“If we didn’t have fuel, we rode bicycles,” he said, recalling how Cubans walked during special times. “Our wine is bitter. But it’s our wine. You know what? We don’t want anyone from anywhere else to come here and tell us how to drink our wine.”
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