The young employees — aged between 20 and 35 — work as waiters or kitchen assistants, earning approximately 1,000 pesos per day.

The U.S. oil blockade against Cuba is heavily burdening the island’s nascent private sector, where hundreds of small businesses have closed or suspended operations, while others are reinventing themselves and fighting to survive.  U.S. pressure, combined with the structural crisis the country was already enduring, is creating an environment for private Cuban entrepreneurs that is as adverse as it is uncertain. This is particularly challenging for a group Washington has stated on more than one occasion that it intends to support, as the lack of fuel strikes them on multiple fronts.  Without fuel, neither workers, suppliers nor customers can count on reliable transportation; this disrupts supply chains and internal labor organization, while also dampening consumer demand. Furthermore, power outages are becoming prolonged since a portion of the national power generation relies on diesel and fuel oil, thereby undermining economic activity.  Lacking fuel, private businesses (estimated at around 10,000 across the island) are also unable to ensure a steady power supply using their own backup generators, vital for establishments such as bakeries or shops selling refrigerated goods.  Laura Salazar, manager of the private complex Loft Bahía, speaking in an interview with EFE. Photo: Ernesto Mastrascusa/EFE Moreover, during power outages, mobile and wired connectivity frequently fail, thereby eliminating the possibility of remote work and extinguishing any glimmer of a digital economy. ...

Based in Old Havana, this local development project is dedicated to safeguarding the country’s heritage, “because without collecting, there is no history,” asserts its leader.

In the wake of the SEN outage on Monday, Otmaro Rodríguez’s lens roamed the streets of Havana and the Malecón to capture the life that, even in the worst circumstances, prevails.

Portal Miranda also spoke of refrigerated transport logistics problems that have affected the timely administration of vaccines to more than 30,000 children, even though the vaccines are available in warehouses.

Dedicated to a revered 4th-century bishop, the small Orthodox cathedral is both a gesture of friendship between Greece and Cuba and a spiritual refuge amidst contemporary turmoil.

A new executive order signed on February 20 eliminates the tariff levies that threatened countries supplying crude oil to the island but maintains the national emergency and leaves other pressure tactics in place.

Economic reform entails enormous risks, but inaction carries a certainty: collapse.

The Cuban manager believes the team can advance to the semifinals again, regardless of the absence of players who play in Major League Baseball.

Is there room to negotiate with new oil suppliers? The Cuban government is probably evaluating options, but the problem lies in the scarcity of foreign currency.

The very difficult year of 2025 is now behind us, and 2026 is slowly beginning. Despite the many shortages and difficulties, Cubans on the island once again put their resilience and willpower to the test, and tried to have the best possible New Year’s Eve, hoping for future improvement. But the change of year has not exactly brought good news.  If the past year was a very difficult period — even more so than 2024 — marked by a worsening of the economic and energy crisis, government measures and plans that have so far failed, and increased pressure from Washington after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the year that is beginning does not look good at all. At least, judging by its first 10 days.  A man works on a building that suffered a collapse in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez. A mobile charcoal oven on a street in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodríguez. The U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces — in an operation in which, moreover, 32 Cubans lost their lives — has only multiplied the uncertainty in Cuba regarding the coming months.  The strategic relationship between Havana and Caracas is going through a complicated period. Given the strong demands of the Trump administration on the post-Maduro Chavista government and the close ties...

The statements contrast with the message posted Sunday by Trump on his social media, where he assured that, at least from Venezuela, “there will be no more oil or money going to Cuba: zero.”

Despite their geographical distance, a history of integration exists between the two countries, reflected today in specific sites and in the community of Japanese descendants on the island.

The economic and social crisis that has plagued the country for several years intensified, without the government’s plans and measures being able to even alleviate it.

“Real” dollar accounts? The publication of a regulatory package on dollarization has generated as much expectation as questions. What happens with accounts in freely convertible currency? Who benefits? What changes — and what doesn’t — with the new measures?

He is one of the leading experts on the history of the cabaret and possesses the world’s largest collection of related objects.

After the pandemic, many Cuban women found in this field of entrepreneurship a path to economic independence and self-realization.

Heart of the bright and colorful Miramar neighborhood, this avenue still presents an image that contrasts sharply with the vast majority of areas in the Cuban capital.

Arriving at Bibijagua at night wasn’t exactly a whim, but rather the pleasant command of Unger, the historian of the Isle of Youth.

The “Feel Its Rhythms” promotional campaign aims to position Cuba as the most authentic destination in the Caribbean, in partnership with Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba and with the support of the Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), through a proposal where art and advertising intertwine.

The site where Aracelio Iglesias Park is located today has a long history and a well-known environment within the Cuban capital.

Private entrepreneurs in Cuba complain about the lack of regulation to promote MSMEs, self-employed workers, cooperatives and other businesses. But one thing is perfectly regulated: its limits.

Despite the damage suffered, the church plans to resume its religious activities within two days, according to the rector and parish priest of the Sanctuary, Rogelio Dean Puerta.

A look at the history, current events and iconic places of the capital of Mayabeque, a town founded more than 200 years ago.

The new system aims to begin with pilot projects in facilities belonging to various large international hotel chains, according to the EFE news agency, which said that the first hotel to implement this formula will be the Iberostar Origin Laguna Azul in Varadero.