{"id":42793,"date":"2026-07-09T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=42793"},"modified":"2026-07-11T00:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:47:53","slug":"we-are-waiting-for-the-americans-to-save-us-in-crisis-cubans-have-given-up-on-reform-from-within","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/we-are-waiting-for-the-americans-to-save-us-in-crisis-cubans-have-given-up-on-reform-from-within\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are waiting for the Americans to save us\u2019 \u2013 in crisis, Cubans have given up on reform from within"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joseph J. Gonzalez<\/a>, Appalachian State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first visited Cuba, the island was recovering from a severe economic crisis. It was 1996, and the collapse of the Soviet Union<\/a> had ushered in a prolonged period of deprivation and hardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On my latest visit, in early June, I encountered yet another crisis<\/a>, a slow-motion humanitarian disaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The island is coping with severe shortages<\/a> of fuel and electricity, among other essentials<\/a>, due in large part to an oil blockade<\/a> that President Donald Trump imposed in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To a degree, the current emergency mirrors the \u201cSpecial Period<\/a>\u201d of 35 years ago. After the end of Soviet subsidies, Cuba plunged into darkness and hunger. \u201cWe had almost no electricity and little food,\u201d one Cuban friend later told me. \u201cIf the government could not provide it, we did not have it, and the government had no money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the current crisis is different in many respects. For one, there are more goods available. In Havana, at least, restaurants are open and stores are well stocked with foodstuffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also less hope and more despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cubans I spoke to \u2013 on the street, in shops and caf\u00e9s, and in their homes \u2013 told me they no longer believe their government cares about their suffering. Instead, they are placing their hopes in the United States generally and the Trump administration specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are waiting for the Americans to save us,\u201d said one of the Cubans I interviewed. \u201cThe ones in charge [of the Cuban government] worry about themselves, not about us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such views were unheard of 30 years ago. Now, they are commonplace on the streets of Havana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fidel\u2019s \u2018Special Period\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Soviet subsidies to Cuba at their height amounted to about US$4 billion<\/a> per year. During the last six months of 1991, the Soviets gradually stopped<\/a> supporting Fidel Castro\u2019s revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food disappeared from Cuban stores and blackouts became the rule. Cuba had no money with which to buy oil to generate electricity. Cars disappeared from the streets, replaced by a few overcrowded buses, bicycles and horse-drawn wagons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Workers paste over a portrait of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Havana in 1991. Peter Turnley\/Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Between 1991 and 1993, Cuba\u2019s GDP declined by at least one-third<\/a>. The average Cuban lost between 5% and 25%<\/a> of his or her body weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Castro, Cuba\u2019s longtime communist leader, proclaimed<\/a> this crisis a \u201cSpecial Period in Time of Peace.\u201d A Cuban I know refers to it as the \u201ctime when we ate cats and dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common enemy, common purpose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I first went to Cuba as a graduate student studying history, searching for potential dissertation topics. Arriving in 1996, I was struck by the continued scarcity of electricity, gasoline and food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I was also impressed by the Cubans\u2019 solidarity: Almost to a person, Cubans I spoke to blamed the U.S. embargo<\/a> for their plight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations imposed the embargo, effectively prohibiting trade and tourism between the U.S. and Cuba, in retaliation for Cuban nationalization of U.S. property<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cubans directed most of their anger toward Washington. Graffiti criticizing Republican Sen. Jesse Helms \u2013 co-author of the Helms-Burton Act<\/a>, which enshrined the embargo as an act of Congress \u2013 and President Bill Clinton<\/a> was common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as important, Cubans I met then believed that they all shared the same miseries \u2014 even their leaders, to a degree. So far as most of them knew, all Cubans were hungry, relying on kerosene lanterns and riding bicycles thanks to the \u201cYankee blockade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, that was what their government<\/a> told them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
In 1996 Cubans generally still supported the country\u2019s revolutionary leaders, Fidel and Raul Castro. Antonio Ribeiro\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More food, more cynicism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, Cubans appear far less likely to believe such propaganda. Indeed, from what I could see, the old revolutionary slogans are disappearing from public spaces, erased or defaced. Nor could I find a recent copy of Granma, the Communist Party\u2019s newspaper, anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Cubans turn to the internet, reading abroad what their government obfuscates or denies at home. As one friend told me, \u201cWe have the internet now. We can read for ourselves, and we are much harder to lie to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike during the 1990s, food is prevalent in Havana for those who can afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private individuals import goods, legally and illegally, keeping private stores stocked even with American luxuries, such as whiskey, as well as Cuban staples, including rice and beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purchasing food in private stores, however, remains an expensive proposition. A pound of rice and beans can cost a dollar \u2013 cheap to Americans but exorbitant relative to the average Cuban monthly wage of US$15-$20<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation is rampant<\/a>, among the worst in the world. While I was in Havana, the Cuban peso traded at roughly 550-580 to the dollar. When I last visited, in 2024, it was about 250.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Trash builds up on the streets of Havana. Joesph Gonzalez, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During my latest trip, gasoline cost $40 per gallon, when you could find it. Private entrepreneurs sell gasoline in the streets, along highways and even in once-functioning state-owned petrol stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The libreta, the rationing system<\/a> that used to insure Cubans against hunger, operates only sporadically now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less social cohesion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A decade ago, crime was infrequent and petty. Now it is common and violent, fueled by deprivation and drugs<\/a>. During this visit, friends told me not to walk the streets at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug abuse is also increasingly a problem<\/a>. The young use opioids, especially fentanyl, which is cheap and easy to find. As one Cuban observed, \u201cWe now enjoy the problems of poor Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my trip, I interviewed at least 35 Cubans \u2013 from colleagues and friends to people on the street, usually in stores and cafes. No one refused to speak to me, though most would only do so anonymously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost all of them save one, a Communist Party member, said that their leaders do not share their suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hear of their leaders\u2019 lifestyles<\/a> and the first lady\u2019s fashions<\/a>; they see the consumption habits of members of the Castro family<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the internet, Cubans also know of the holdings of GAESA<\/a>, a conglomerate controlled by the military that touches much of what is profitable in Cuba<\/a>. Many Cubans say, with reason<\/a>, that the revenues of GAESA, as well as other quasi-public entities<\/a>, insulate the elite from the hardships of life in Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Cuban I spoke to, again save one, told me that their leaders are resisting the Trump administration in order protect their privileges and positions \u2013 not Cuban sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not hard,\u201d a Cuban woman working in a souvenir shop told me. \u201cAll they need to do is make a deal with the U.S. But they won\u2019t because it would mean giving up their own private Cuba. They are greedy f\u2013kers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Americans are coming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the Cuban government is yielding to American pressure, however slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel recently announced a dramatic expansion<\/a> of private enterprise in Cuba, following measures to promote foreign investment<\/a>, most notably from Cuban Americans in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is welcome news to most Cubans. Having given up on their own leaders, almost all the Cubans I spoke to are waiting for Americans to save them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A man wearing shorts depicting the U.S. flag walks along a street in Havana on May 6, 2026. Yamil LAge\/AFP via Getty Images.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake: The Cubans I spoke with want the oil embargo to end, and no one wants a U.S. invasion. \u201cThere has already been enough misery,\u201d observed a Santeria priest. \u201cThere is no need for death and injury.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Cubans I spoke with want U.S. pressure to continue. They believe that their government will never adopt policies designed to improve the quality of all Cubans\u2019 lives absent pressure from the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target the elite<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That said, people said they would like such pressure to be more narrowly targeted at the elites themselves, with less hardship for the average Cuban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent termination by Mastercard and Visa<\/a> of transactions is one such measure; the vast majority of Cubans do not have credit cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for them to suffer like we suffer,\u201d concluded one Cuban, speaking of her unelected leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given such contempt, when coupled with pressure from the Trump administration, it\u2019s hard to see how what remains of the Cuban Revolution can long endure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alejandro Rodr\u00edguez Bidondo, a professional tour director and translator in Havana, assisted with the research necessary for this article.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph J. Gonzalez<\/a>, Associate Professor of Global Studies, Appalachian State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph J. Gonzalez, Appalachian State University When I first visited Cuba, the island was recovering from a severe economic crisis. It was 1996, and the collapse of the Soviet Union had ushered in a prolonged period of deprivation and hardship. On my latest visit, in early June, I encountered yet another crisis, a slow-motion humanitarian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":42794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,8025,276,46,295,10,296,4],"tags":[3144,252,17919,2551,885,891,886,860,1602,17492,17918],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42795,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42793\/revisions\/42795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}