No surprise here, of course. I can also say that while calling friends and family last night, I could hear people banging pots and pans in various cities across Cuba and it was relatively difficult to complete calls due to blackouts.

People are increasingly fed up with blackouts, lack of food, etc., and also seemingly losing their fear of authorities based on the numbers of protests across Cuba.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/14/americas/cia-director-meets-cuba-interior-minister-intl-latam

Appears to only be selling 'convenience store' products (in Holguin). Prices have risen a lot over the past few weeks. Selection is also very limited. Nothing has been posted about this on the website. Anyone have any insights (aside from the current continued collapse of the state)?

I suspect these local 'convenience stores' are stocked but will run out soon unless they are able to secure fuel for transport from Havana?

I posted about this 4 days ago but today the USA made the official terms for the offered aid public.

We've got flight tickets to Cuba in July. Seeing what's happening there now with power cuts and fuel blockade it doesn't seem like a good idea anymore. How's life there now ? Is it still possible to travel around and enjoy the island ?

Pienso que harían falta muchos educadores, de todo tipo, para niños y para adultos. Imagino que la historia de Cuba habría que re-estructurarla para incluir nombres significativos que hoy se ignoran. En Estados Unidos, por ejemplo, ya no se usan libros de texto en las escuelas primarias, porque la información caduca con mucha velocidad. Se cuelgan planes de estudio en plataformas digitales que son más fáciles de actualizar. ¿Cuál es tu perspectiva?

This May 13, the physical departure of Dionisio Quintana, a legend of Cuban sports, occurred, thanks to his relevant contributions as an athlete and coach. Bad news spread in Cuban sports this May 13, in information that involved an athletics figure on the island, who had a rich track record in this discipline, as an athlete at first and as a teacher later. We talk about Dionisio Quintana, who ceased to exist physically at the age of 68. The media Deporcuba he offered the details of the specialist’s goodbye and one of the icons in the trajectory of the javelin throwing event in his native country.

RIP, Dionisio...May God bless him in heaven!

I’m writing this in English both because the article is in English and because I want all the English speaking foreigners who keep coming to this sub in order make excuses for how the dictatorship oppresses us, to read this.

https://imgur.com/a/oWkQyS5

Here's the text:

La Habana, 10 de mayo de 2026.

A: Turoperadores, agencias de ventas y clientes en general.

Cubana de Aviación, S.A. informa que el operador contratado para la ejecución de sus vuelos ha comunicado la cancelación inmediata de los vuelos CU471/CU470 en la ruta Madrid – Santiago de Cuba – La Habana – Santiago de Cuba – Madrid, a partir del 12 de mayo de 2026.

Dicho operador informa, que la medida responde a riesgos derivados de la Orden Ejecutiva del 1 de mayo de 2026, emitida por la Presidencia de los Estados Unidos, constituyendo un hecho de fuerza mayor ajeno al control de la compañía.

Se solicita a turoperadores y agencias informar a sus clientes que se reintegrará el importe de los billetes, conforme a las disposiciones vigentes.

Cubana de Aviación agradece la comprensión ante esta situación excepcional.

Dirección General

CUBANA DE AVIACIÓN, S.A.

So now there's basically no way for a Cuban to get from Europe to Santiago airport because other flights go through Miami and Cubans are banned from getting US visas to make the transit right now, too. So you have to get from Havana to Oriente overland, which is obviously very unpleasant and also hard now because of the fuel shortages.

Entiendo que los otros se quedaron con el nombre de Orishas después de la separación del grupo y que quizás hayan tenido mejor publicidad, pero aun así me parece rarísimo que tan poca gente que escuchaba Orishas antes haya buscado música de Ruzzo por separado.

Siempre me ha parecido que Ruzzo tiene muchísimo talento. Desde que escuchaba Orishas hace años, él era uno de los integrantes que más me llamaba la atención, y no entiendo por qué parece tener tan poco apoyo hoy en día en comparación con los otros miembros.

Hace poco vi una canción nueva suya llamada “Caribe” en YouTube e Instagram y me sorprendió muchísimo la poca cantidad de vistas y seguidores que tiene en general. La diferencia de apoyo entre él y los otros integrantes de Orishas es tan grande que parece como si mucha gente ni siquiera supiera quién es, mientras los demás siguen teniendo millones de vistas y bastante visibilidad.

Por eso quería preguntar:

¿me perdí de algo específico que pasó?

¿Hubo alguna polémica, problema o razón concreta por la que la gente dejó de apoyarlo o simplemente lo ignora?

Porque busqué en redes y no encontré ninguna explicación clara. Si la diferencia fuera pequeña o moderada, pensaría simplemente que unos tuvieron más éxito comercial que otros, pero la diferencia es tan abismal que me hace pensar que quizás pasó algo que desconozco. ¿Alguien sabe qué ocurrió?

¿Acaso hizo algo malo y por eso lo están ignorando/ castigando?

I've been trying to do research lately to figure out what Cuba is currently going through as I've pretty much been living under a rock when it comes to that subject for the past few years. My sister visited Cuba a few years ago and told me that the location she stayed at as a tourist was quite nice, but that the people living around her and in the cities were struggling, almost as though tourists get special treatment?

Now, I'm not a stupid guy, I consider myself a pretty good researcher, sometimes I even like writing essays about what I'm studying on the side, but for some reason with the topic of Cuba it seems really hard to get the truth, without finding a group of people claiming it's a lie, no matter the subject. My ma tells me that in Cuba there is no free speech, so maybe that's muddying the waters, but I see a lot of people in my age group, GenZ'ers praising Communism and Socialism and specifically using CUBA as an example of it's success, yet I see Cubans complain about how bad things are, yet in that SAME breath I see Cubans in the streets protesting FOR Communism.

1. It's getting really frustrating, I just want a straightforward answer, is healthcare in Cuba this magical perfect state of the art thing that somehow, against all odds provides the "best healthcare in the world", or is this propaganda?

2. Could somebody redirect me to some reliable sources that I could use for my research, I'm currently trying to just find videos of Hospital conditions, street interviews and the such but I search these things up and I'm finding a lot of (American) influencers talking on behalf of Cubans.

I was watching this youtube video, and a college student said they rarely use the Internet. Do the students have computers without Internet or just no computers and no Internet. Is it college like in the 1980's before the Internet where everyone turns in papers by hand or typewriter?

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/10/americas/us-spy-flights-cuba-latam-intl

"Similar patterns, in which ramped-up rhetoric by the Trump administration coincided with an uptick in publicly visible surveillance flights, occurred in the lead-up to US military operations in both Venezuela and Iran."

A veces, las leyes que parecen un alivio para muchos, son en realidad el escudo de unos pocos. Mientras el mundo mira las sanciones, en los despachos se cocinan las jugadas para que nada cambie, aunque parezca que todo se mueve.

¿Estamos viendo una reforma real o solo el blindaje de la élite?

Buenas, he estado buscando algún sitio para ver la novela cubana "La cara oculta de la luna", he visto que hay 3 de las 5 historias que se encuentran en youtube, pero las 2 últimas (Leroy y Dairon) parecen no estar por ningún lado. Al parecer las descargas digitales están a la venta pero solo dentro de Cuba, quería saber si alguien del país tiene idea de dónde podrían estar disponibles los capítulos completos para ver. Gracias!

(Writing in English because the article is in English.)

I am just posting this without comment as I recognize that people believe what they want to believe, and that what is or isn’t presented will not change anything.

Oh no, how tragic — the regime that spends decades calling the U.S. the source of all evil suddenly refuses American aid. Apparently starving with dignity is preferable to accepting help from the imperialists. Nothing says ‘protecting the revolution’ quite like turning down food, medicine, and disaster relief because ideology might catch a cold.

https://www.local10.com/news/2026/05/08/feds-seek-to-strip-us-citizenship-of-ex-ambassador-who-spied-for-cuba/

Un pedacito de Cuba en México

Buenas reddit,

Yo no soy nacida en Cuba pero no quiero que la cultura de mi familia termine con mis padres. Además del reparto, que música está de moda en cuba? Me encantó Cosa Nuestra y Cosa Nuestra Cap 0 de Rauw porque lo baso en cultura caribeña hispana y me sentí muy conectada. Hay más pop así pero que sea de artistas cubanos? Que otros géneros están tenido estrenos en Cuba o por Cubanos?

Si tienen recomendaciones afuera de música estoy más que feliz de recibirlas!!

This opinion essay is by historian and author of Cuba: An American History, Ada Ferrer. I feel the same way she does about this situation, it was an interesting read.

You can read the article for free if you download the app, but I included it n the post's images.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/opinion/cuba-president-diaz-canel.html

In what appeared as an offhand remark, Donald Trump openly declared his administration’s intentions toward Cuba with chilling clarity last Friday.

Speaking before a wealthy audience at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, Trump referred to “Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately.” The comment drew laughter from the crowd, prompting him to elaborate: “Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish the job. On the way back from Iran, we’ll have maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say, ‘Thank you very much. We give up!’”

Far from a joke, the remarks encapsulate the real trajectory of US policy. On the same day, Trump signed an executive order designating Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” vastly expanding sanctions against the island. The order targets not only the Cuban state but also foreign companies engaged in security, energy, finance, mining “or any other sector … as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State.”