Between power cuts and sanctions, Cubans fight to survive and maintain the joy of living

As tensions between Cuba and the United States deepen following Washington’s attacks on Venezuela and the interruption of oil shipments to the island, The problems of Santa Cruz del Norte are also growing.

The inhabitants of this town east of Havana are immersed daily in darkness and They are forced to cook with charcoal and firewoodbut not everyone can afford this new reality.

Kenia Montoya said that recently tore off the wooden door of his bathroom in the deteriorating cinder block house he shares with his children because he needed firewood, and they needed to eat.

“With this situation we are now getting worse,” he said. “They don’t supply us with oil. They don’t supply us with food. And then?”

A faded purple sheet now hangs over his bathroom. Nearby, only a handful of coal remains in a small bag.

The 50 year old mother He doesn’t know how he will cook once the charcoal runs out. because supplies in the region have decreased.

It is one of the many uncertainties that affect towns like this throughout Cuba, after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, threaten to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.

“Well, it’s a failed nation now,” Trump said this week. “And they don’t receive money from Venezuela, and they don’t receive money from anywhere.”

“How are we going to live?” Near the main entrance of Santa Cruz del Norte, a large mural is adorned with the following message in capital letters: “NOBODY GIVES UP HERE. LONG LIVE CUBA LIBRE.” But people wonder how long they can hold out.

The island’s crisis is getting deeper: severe blackouts, higher prices and shortages of basic goods.

Meanwhile, the Cuban government remains silent on its oil reserves, without offering information on whether Russia or another country would increase its shipments following the interruption of Venezuelan oil supplies when the United States attacked and arrested its president in early January.

Cuban authorities recently praised a phone call they had with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, although they did not share details. Meanwhile, Mexico pledged to send humanitarian aid, including food, after Trump said he called for a suspension of oil shipments to the island.

Many residents of Santa Cruz del Norte feel that the worst is yet to come.

“With all those tariffs that they are going to impose on the countries, no oil is going to enter, and what are we going to live on?” said Gladys Delgado.

On a recent cold afternoon, the 67-year-old woman opened her front door to get some fresh air while sewing small, colorful rugs made from scraps of clothing. to earn some extra money because his pension is only $6 a month.

A couple of houses down, Minorkys Hoyos dropped a handful of cassava cubes into an old pot that he filled with water from a barrel and placed on a small makeshift grill inside his home.

“You live with what you have in your hands,” he commented, noting that he had no more food available at the time.

The few rechargeable items that used to illuminate his small, messy home have broken down, and he started tripping over things until a neighbor gave him a makeshift flashlight made from fuel and a jar of baby food. “I don’t see dark,” said the 53-year-old woman, who also suffers from diabetes.

It was late afternoon while he was cooking, but his home was already dark.

Outside, two children sat on a dusty sidewalk. They stacked dominoes on top of each other to see how far they could go before everything fell apart.

In the last three months, Santa Cruz del Norte had electricity while most of Cuba suffered constant blackouts due to aging infrastructure and fuel shortages in power plants.

People like Iván Amores rejoiced cautiously, fearful that they would once again be plunged into darkness like most of last year. Their fears were realized a week ago, when the blackouts returned.

“This was wonderful,” he said of his town when it had electricity. “Now it is real torture.”

Amores uses a small improvised grill to cook for himself, his daughter and his little granddaughter, buying more expensive charcoal, 3 dollars a bagbecause it generates less smoke inside your impeccable home.

He also invested in a tubular light that a Cuban in another town builds and sells; It can be charged and even comes with a USB port.

But even those brilliant inventions that have made Cubans famous are out of reach of people like Mariela Viel, 67 years old; She and her husband still can’t afford to add a bathroom to their cinder-block house with a dirt floor.

Growing up, Viel said he never knew what a blackout was: “And we were fine. We had food, money.”

He worked for more than 40 years in the cafeteria of the Cuban electricity company and now receives a monthly pension equivalent to 8 dollars. “What can I get? Not at all. Not even a package of chicken.”he commented.

When there is electricity, he cooks rice and beans and listens to his favorite music: the great Cuban orchestras.

Viel sat outside one recent afternoon, watching a couple of neighbors walk quickly with buckets of hot water so their families could shower during a cold snap that began in late January, with a record 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in a town southeast of Santa Cruz del Norte.

Celebrations also start earlier now, and one family hosted a boy’s 15th birthday — an important age throughout Latin America — in the middle of the afternoon before he and his friends opted to end the party outdoors under a big yellow moon.

The star shone on a group of nearby people who were dancing and singing outside next to a scooter that played music from its speakers to celebrate the birthday of Olga Lilia Laurenti, now 61 years old.

“I really tell him that whatever has to come, let it come, Because we can’t stop it.”he said as he paused in the dance.

“You are not going to lose part of your life with something that is not in your hands. If we could do something, but what are we going to do? We cannot suffer. Laughter cannot be missing, joy cannot be missing.”