The view from Cuba under U.S. blockade

Cuba welcomed the arrival of a Russian tanker delivering some 730,000 barrels of oil on Monday.

The country has been experiencing nationwide blackouts, severe fuel shortages, and shutdowns of schools and non-essential businesses due to the ongoing U.S. blockade that began in January.

For more, “Marketplace Morning Report” host Sabri Ben-Achour spoke with Will Grant, the Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent at the BBC. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Sabri Ben-Achour: You just got back from Cuba. What did you see?

Will Grant: I’ve been going quite often this year, and I've just seen the situation on the island get progressively worse with each trip. And on this latest one, I was there during an island wide blackout where there was genuinely no power anywhere on the island. Now that's one moment, but neighborhoods go regularly 18, 20, 15 hours a day without power. It is deeply frustrating.

Ben-Achour: What about hospitals? What about the food supply? How is this blockade affecting all of that?

Grant: I did actually go into a hospital. In fact, I've been into two hospitals since the oil blockade was put in place. One was a maternity hospital, and the government showed us around. They were very willing to show us that space because they'd kept the lights on. But the truth is that most hospitals are struggling. One of the other clinics I went to was 90% in darkness while I was down, they were only receiving emergency cases.

Ben-Achour: There's this oil coming from Russia, something like 730,000 barrels. Will that make any difference?

Grant: Yes, in the sense that it is a lifeline, but it's not making any lasting dent. So, if we estimate that 730,000 barrels will be a week's worth, of course, in these current restrictions that they're putting on — on how much fuel you can pump at the petrol pumps, so on and so forth — they can eke that out to well beyond a week. But it's not the answer. It is a short-term fix.

Ben-Achour: Cuba does produce a small amount of energy domestically. Is there any way it could ramp that up?

Grant: Not in terms of the fossil fuels, I don't think, really because the energy infrastructure is so dilapidated. What they produce is limited. What I think it could do, and what, in fact, it is doing, using Chinese technology, is really ramping up the solar power now.

Ben-Achour: President Trump has made comments about “taking Cuba,” referring to regime change. What do Cubans want?

Grant: Cubans are very, very frustrated and angry at their own authorities, for the state of the economy, for the state of the country. But also, of course, there is anger at the Trump administration. The imposition of a complete fuel blockade still touches that nationalist nerve among Cubans. Nevertheless, I think that the clamor for change has reached a point where I'm hearing people say to me on camera things like, “I'd be happy now for Trump to come in and take this,” which is an extraordinary thing to see people so exhausted that they're no longer concerned about the consequences of speaking out.