Cuba has been a communist country for nearly 70 years. That's slowly starting to change but it still has a long way to go. What's driving that change is the current conditions which have turned the country into a dark and desperate place.
The crisis revealed itself in the trash heaps and darkened streets, and in nearly every encounter we had. With so few tourists around, strangers offered us tours, directions, friendship, company and protection we hadn't asked for. And a request for money was rarely far behind. That’s just how many Cubans get by now...
Outside our door, Old Havana's once-grand colonial buildings were coming apart after decades of neglect. Garbage was heaped along entire blocks, and someone was nearly always picking through it for anything worth keeping. People lined up for drinking water. On one wall, a painted slogan read "Viva la Revolución."
Along the road to the airport, a billboard read simply "Raúl es Raúl," a reference to Raúl Castro, Fidel's younger brother and Cuba's former president, who turned 95 in June. Daniel asked the driver what it meant.
"It means Raúl is the boss," he said. "And don't forget it."
They haven't forgotten the communist mantras but the reality is definitely getting to them.
Each night, the power cut out and most of the city went dark. People came outside to escape the heat and find their neighbors.
Who had power depended on where you lived. Our host got only a couple of hours a day. The couple who gave us a cooking lesson almost never lost it, because they lived near a hospital. Even so, the couple said, everyone they knew wanted to leave the country or already had.
That sentiment was echoed in another recent story about Cuba's bored young people who have no money and nothing to do when the power is out.
Most of 24-year-old Melanie Tejeda's friends have left the US-blockaded island nation, and only five of the 43 students who started an acting program with her two years ago remain...
Many of the theaters, cinemas and concert halls that once pumped life into the capital have shuttered or drastically reduced their offerings...
The young adult doesn't see a future for himself at home.
"I'm leaving... Every young person in this country wants to leave."
The situation is desperate enough that even Cuba's communist government is quietly making changes.
Cuba's government has approved a new legal framework allowing domestic and foreign private companies to participate in oil and gas exploration and production through contracts and concessions lasting up to 50 years, while maintaining state ownership of the country's energy resources.
Why would anyone want to get in business with the Cuban communists? They may promise 50 years of stability but in reality they can guarantee they'll be around in six months. And if they somehow do survive, the chances of them nationalizing any successful operation and effectively stealing the benefits for the revolution seem pretty high.
Nevertheless, even before this change, the U.S. had become the number one fuel supplier in Cuba. There is some suspicion that those shipments, which were illegal, were being arranged by the Cuban government.
U.S. companies exported $231.7 million in fuel to private companies in Cuba from January through August 2026, making the United States the main fuel supplier to Cuba as the Trump administration continues to block oil shipments to the island’s government...
Last week, federal agents in Miami announced the seizure of more than 600,000 gallons of biodiesel at Port Everglades and Port Houston heading to Cuba. Officials valued the cargo at about $2.8 million and said it was bound for a sanctioned Cuban state company, Enetec. However, Enetec is an intermediary agency and does not take ownership of the shipments, according to a person linked to one of the companies selling the fuel.
In an interview with Reuters in Havana, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said he had no knowledge of the shipments intercepted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security...
At sea, the Coast Guard said it boarded the Grace in the Caribbean on Sept. 5 and escorted it to Progreso, Mexico, because it was hiding “illicit” fuel bound for Cuba in the ship’s ballast tanks and containers. The Coast Guard also said it had earlier detained the Jaira Provider, also carrying fuel to Cuba. Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, called the interdictions illegal.
It's not clear how much longer Cuba can hang on like this. Either the country drops socialism or all of he young people gradually set their sights on escaping to a capitalist country where they get more than 2 hours of power each day. Trump is going to be around for two more years. I don't think Raul Castro can last that long.