Cubans under siege as US stranglehold sets in

Crisis Overview and Daily Life Challenges

By Dave Sherwood

Impact of U.S. Sanctions

HAVANA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Cubans from all walks of life are hunkering into survival mode, navigating lengthening blackouts and soaring prices for food, fuel and transport as the U.S. threatens a stranglehold on the communist-run nation.

Fuel and Transportation Issues

Reuters interviewed over three dozen residents of towns and neighborhoods around the capital Havana – the country's political and economic engine - from street vendors to private sector workers, taxi drivers and state employees.

Public Sentiment and Government Response

Together, those discussions paint a picture of a people pushed to the limit as goods and services - particularly those tied to ever more limited fuel supplies - become scarcer and more expensive.

For much of rural Cuba, this is not entirely new. The island's frail and antiquated power generation system has been slowly failing for years and residents have grown accustomed to spending hours at a time without functioning electricity, internet or water pumps.

But the seaside capital, where the streets are lined with 1950s-era cars and colorful if decrepit Spanish colonial architecture, has until recently fared better.

Now crisis looks set to swamp it, too, as fuel shortages take hold, with first Venezuela, then Mexico halting oil shipments to the island.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said tariffs will be imposed on imports from countries that supply Cuba with oil, ratcheting up the pressure on Washington's long-time foe in the wake of the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a key Cuban ally, in early January.

In many other countries, the conditions would have sent people out into the streets. So far, in a nation where dissent has long been curbed, there has been little sign of protest. But it is unclear how much more Cubans will be willing to endure.

Cuba's peso has lost more than 10% of its value against the dollar in three weeks, pushing up the price of groceries.

"This has put me in an impossible situation," said Yaite Verdecia, a Havana resident and housewife. "There's no salary that can cope with this."

DAILY LIFE GETTING MORE DIFFICULT

Trump, when asked about the prospect of a U.S. military intervention in Cuba shortly after the capture of Maduro, said he did not think an attack was necessary because "it looks like it's going down."

On Friday, Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez declared an "international emergency" in response to the U.S. tariff warning, which he said constituted "an unusual and extraordinary threat."

But the government has said little about how it will manage the growing threat of humanitarian crisis.

Many of the Cubans Reuters spoke with said daily life - already difficult - had been reduced to basics like assuring food, fuel for cooking, and water, and that it had become noticeably harder in recent days.

Lines for gasoline have grown significantly this week at a handful of service centers in the city still supplied with fuel. And since the U.S. blocked Venezuelan deliveries of oil to Cuba in mid-December, virtually all gas has been sold at a premium, in dollars - a currency to which few Cubans have access.

"It used to be that you could sign up and get fuel once a month (in pesos)," said Havana resident Jesus Sosa, referring to an app that would let residents know when it was their turn to fill up their cars. "Not anymore. Sales in national currency have stopped."

'YOU HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE OR STAY HOME'

The crunch has hit both public and private transportation, putting some buses and private taxis out of business and forcing others to raise their prices.

Daylan Perez, a 22-year-old who hails private taxis for clients in old Havana, said fewer buses mean people now have no choice but to pay rising fees for private transport.

"You have to pay the price or stay home," he said.

Even transportation by electric vehicle - once thought to be a panacea in a city short of fuel - has been hit by blackouts that now last for eight to 12 hours or more.

Taxi driver Alexander Leyet of Havana swapped to an electric three-wheeled taxi recently, thinking he had outsmarted the pack.

"Now because of the blackouts I can only charge my taxi for four or five hours," he said.

For decades, the government that has its roots in Fidel Castro's 1959 Cuban Revolution has survived despite sometimes brutal economic struggles, upending regular predictions of imminent collapse or an uprising.

It has long alleged a U.S.-led effort to foment revolt, but the most recent widespread protests were in the pandemic year of 2021, despite a 12% contraction of the economy between 2019 and 2024.

Sharp crackdowns on any form of dissent, combined with the emigration of between one and two million people since the pandemic, have all but eliminated organized in-country opposition. The Cubans interviewed by Reuters generally declined to answer questions about the prospect of protests.

POWER GOES OUT

But none of those interviewed disputed that change was necessary.

"I'm just praying God finds a way to get us out of this (mess)," said Mirta Trujillo, a 71-year-old street vendor from Guanabacoa who burst into tears as she told Reuters she could no longer afford food. Previously, she had depended on a ration book of basic goods provided by the government, but that was phased out post-pandemic as tourist income and other sources of hard currency dried up.

"I'm not against my country... but I don't want to die of hunger," she said.

On a recent weekday evening, Reuters witnessed an accident at a busy intersection in Havana where the stoplights were not functioning as a result of a power outage.

"Sometimes when the power goes out, accidents happen because the traffic lights don't work," said Raysa Lemu, whose apartment overlooks a boulevard in Marianao, on the outskirts of Havana.

"It used to be they turned off the power two or three times a week, but now it's every day and sometimes it's up to 12 hours."

Julia Anita Cobas, a 69-year-old housekeeper from Guanabacoa, gets up at 4 a.m. each morning for a 10-mile (16-km) commute that now approaches four hours round-trip. With less public transportation available, the journey has become longer and more costly.

"I leave my house before sunrise and I don't know how I'll get back," she said.

But Cobas, who was born just before Castro's revolution, said she had no expectation that Trump would make things any better.

"Since I was born the (United States) has been threatening us, and every day we deal with hardship. But we've survived it all," she said.

Aimee Milanes, a 32-year-old resident of Reparto Electrico, just outside Havana, said neither the Cuban nor the U.S. government offered her much hope.

"We're drowning. But there's nothing we can do," said Milanes. "This is about survival. Nothing else."

(Reporting by Dave Sherwood, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)