AFTER a day spent selling books, Solanda Ona typically boards a bus from a wealthy seaside district in Havana to her home in the city’s working-class centre.
But the bus never came. The 64-year-old bookseller spent the night sleeping in a nearby restaurant instead, worried that this could be the new normal if the gas that fuels the island runs out.
Anxieties simmered in Havana on Feb 6, a day after Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that US efforts to block oil supplies would take a heavy toll on the Caribbean nation and asked Cubans to endure further sacrifices to weather the impending hardship.
Many Cubans, already reeling from years of deepening economic crisis, were left asking: What more can we sacrifice?
“I’m very worried,” Ona said.
“Before, things were always difficult. But there was always one bus. One way to get home. Now, there are none.”
By the morning of Feb 6, working class residents like Ona were already seeing an inkling of what the future might hold.
Already unreliable public buses stopped running altogether, leaving many stranded for hours. Others were left walking large distances or hitchhiking.
Long gas lines and blackouts, a constant on the island, have grown even worse as US President Donald Trump presses down on Cuba with an increasingly heavy hand.
The national transportation company also said it was cutting routes in the east of the island while the University of Havana said it would cancel some events and push for more remote learning, citing “energy deficits”.
Meanwhile, much of the city of two million continued to operate as usual, underscoring how normal the crisis has become on the Caribbean island.
Taxis, shared electric motorcycles and other transportation organised by some employers were still working in Havana’s capital.
However, taxi fares remain far out of reach for the many Cubans living on a state salary of less than US$20 a month.
While the United States announced US$6mil in aid to Cubans, severing the island from its primary energy sources has dealt a blow to the nation, especially to civilians who often bear the brunt of the economic crisis. Cuba only produces 40% of the oil it consumes.
The island’s government says US sanctions cost the country more than US$7.5bil between March 2024 and February 2025, substantially more than the year before.
The crisis deepened after Venezuela – once Cuba’s primary oil-rich ally – ceased shipments in January, following the US military operation that captured then- president Nicolas Maduro. Then, in late January, Mexico, a long vocal ally of Cuba, halted its oil exports to the island.
Left with few alternatives, many Cubans now say the current economic turmoil US policies have wrought on their daily lives is comparable to the severe economic depression in the 1990s known as the Special Period, following cuts in Soviet aid.
“What does it mean to not allow a single drop of fuel to reach a country?” Diaz-Canel said.
“It affects the transportation of food, food production, public transportation, the functioning of hospitals, institutions of all kinds, schools, economic production, tourism. How do our vital systems function without fuel?”
For Cristina Diaz, a 51-year-old mother of two, the answer was to walk to her work as a house cleaner. She was joined by packs of others in the capital that strolled along the side of the road on Friday, once again adapting to a new reality.
“We’re living as best we can,” Diaz said.
“What can I do? I live here, I was born here and this is my lot. I have to walk to get to work and to be able to feed my children.” — AP
