On a December evening in the Cuban city of Trinidad, near the country's south coast, the temperature – warm, but not too hot or muggy – is about perfect.
After a busy day seeing the sights or visiting a nearby national park area, many tourists will enjoy relaxing in a chair and gazing towards the beach a few miles away. However, if staying in a casa particular, a private house that rents out rooms, they may have to spend the evening in the dark, because Cuba experiences repeated power cuts, often lasting for hours.
While the town’s evening quiet is broken by the buzz of generators switched on by restaurants or hotels to keep things functioning, casa owners will pass guests camping lamps to use in place of non-functioning ceiling lights.
It is far from ideal for a tourism-dependent nation already facing a squeeze on visitor numbers because of the effects of a long-standing US embargo. This was brought in when communists deposed the American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and was tightened under Donald Trump’s first US presidential administration.
Power shortages exist across the nation, including in other key tourist cities such as Vinales in the far west, Cienfuegos in the south, Santa Clara (celebrated for guerrilla leader Che Guevera’s decisive role there in the revolution) and the capital, Havana. Sometimes, power may be on only for a few hours per day.
One hostel owner in Old Havana, the capital’s partly-restored tourist hotspot, said that there used to be “a lot of tourists” but the situation now was “very, very difficult”.
“In Havana you have around five hours of broken electricity. In Trinidad, in Vinales it’s more complicated,” the hostel owner, who asked for anonymity due to political sensitivities, told The National. His central location means that there are guests in his hostel “all the time”, but owners of other premises are, he said, finding it harder to attract holidaymakers.
Downturn
Indeed, Cuba is the Caribbean country where tourism has most struggled to bounce back from the Covid-19 downturn, according to Dr Emily Morris, honorary senior research fellow at University College London’s Institute of the Americas.
“The depressed tourism numbers – currently around half the pre-Covid level thanks to US sanctions – and foreign exchange shortages affect the quality of the hotels and facilities in general, with missing repairs,” she said. “And the fall in the value of real Cuban salaries since 2021 has had a serious effect on staff levels and morale, and therefore on behaviour. All this is reflected in reviews.”
Power struggles
Whether it is in national parks visited on day trips from Trinidad, or casas in Vinales, there are some holidaymakers present, but tour guides and property owners say fewer than they would have expected for what is peak season in Cuba.
Dr Helen Yaffe, senior lecturer in political and international studies at the University of Glasgow in the UK and the author of We Are Cuba!: How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, said that "a confluence of different issues" were behind the power shortages, which saw a nationwide blackout in October that lasted several days.
She said that US sanctions were key, as they, for example, limit Cuba’s ability to access credit from international banks, restrict the sale to Cuba of equipment with US components and make it difficult for Cuba to source fuel (some deliveries have been cancelled because suppliers fear US sanctions). Fuel shortages affect power generation, since most electricity is generated from oil. Cuba, Dr Yaffe said, “has no lender of last resort”.
Dr Morris said, however, that in recent months the country appeared to have reduced its vulnerability to national power cut, as shown by a rapid recovery from a power cut at the end of November.
At the end of his first term as US president, Donald Trump designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, which further discouraged visitors from travelling to the Caribbean nation, as doing so renders them ineligible to subsequently visit the US on the country’s visa-waiver scheme.
The hostile relationship between Washington DC and Havana is a far cry from the situation in pre-revolutionary Cuba when, to quote a 1929 travel book, Terry’s Guide to Cuba, “the present-day Cuban is rapidly becoming Americanised”.
“Thousands act, think, talk and look like Americans; wear American clothes, ride in American autos; use American furniture and machinery; oftentimes send their children to American colleges; live for a time in the States themselves or expect to, and eat much American food,” the book stated.
American cars are still seen on Cuban roads, but these are supersized early 1950s Chevrolets, Buicks, Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles imported before the embargo.
Falling numbers
Today, the country has shortages of even basic medicines, and faces an continuing exodus of citizens exhausted by its economic crisis and lack of prospects. According to forecasts published by the World Health Organisation, the population, currently around 11 million, could fall to 9.4 million by 2050. To the casual visitor, the economic challenges and lack of development are obvious, from the severely dilapidated apartment blocks, including in Havana, to the way that many shops consist simply of residents selling a small selection of items from their front room.
In towns, people often travel on horse-drawn carts rather than in motor vehicles, while in the countryside, ploughs pulled by pairs of oxen instead of tractors are a common sight. Motorways connecting major cities are eerily quiet. But the country, under the presidency of Miguel Díaz-Canel, who took over in 2019 from Raúl Castro (who had succeeded his brother Fidel) is aiming to strengthen its energy independence, which would significantly help with the power situation.
Cuba plans to ramp up its solar power capacity, often through Chinese suppliers, which should stabilise its electricity supply and help the country meet climate goals. The aim is that by 2030 almost a quarter of the nation’s energy will come from renewable sources.
“They’ve really accelerated it now,” Dr Morris said. “It was 95 per cent run on fossil fuels, their electricity grid. It’s already coming down to 90 per cent. They’ve got ambitious targets which people looked at and thought, ‘They’re never going to make it.’ Now that it’s such a priority I think they will.”
This greater priority given to the energy transition could, Dr Morris said, lead to a strengthening of ties between Cuba and countries, such as China, that the US is antagonistic towards.
The deep freeze in relations between the US and Cuba has previously improved, notably during the administration of Barack Obama, but the coming years seem likely to be particularly difficult. Mr Trump has nominated as secretary of state Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American senator (his parents immigrated to the US from Cuba) who is a fierce opponent of the regime in Havana.
"They're bracing themselves for the next Trump administration, which looks particularly ominous because of the nomination of Marco Rubio, who's built his career on attacking the Cuban government and being its worst nightmare," said Dr Yaffe.
The Trump administration may increase the enforcement of measures to block the flow of remittances and travel from the US and Cuba, while using Washington DC’s diplomatic and economic weight to pressure third countries to cut ties.
The US is, Dr Yaffe said, “attempting to create the circumstances where the Cuban people will turn on their own government”. But while younger Cubans – plugged into social media and with greater access to information about life in capitalist nations – may lack the revolutionary fervour of previous generations, there is “no sign the government is close to collapse”.
“The biggest critics internally have left the country,” Dr Yaffe said. “It’s not like Venezuela, where you have millions of opposition activists in the country.”
So, while Cuba may be grappling with power cuts and fuel shortages, and struggling to attract visitors, it seems that there is no sign of another revolution brewing among the dogged population of this Caribbean nation.
RACE CARD
6.30pm: Baniyas Group 2 (PA) Dh 97,500 (Dirt) 1,400m.
7.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,400m
8.50pm Rated Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh 85,000 (D) 2,000m
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
SPECS
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The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
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Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.
The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?
My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.
The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.
So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.
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Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
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THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
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Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 366Nm
Price: Dh200,000
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
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Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm