Faby Rodríguez, 22, did not think she would be detained that morning, that it would be her last day of freedom in the United States. She arrived on time for her immigration check-in appointment in San Antonio, Texas, as she always had. That day, her journey back to Cuba began.

They offer contracts in US dollars and work visas for the island of Grenada to Cuban masons and carpenters.

With more than 7,500 traffic accidents per year and a rise of over 18% in deaths during 2025, road safety in Cuba is deteriorating against a backdrop of frequent blackouts, poor visibility, and an increasingly precarious transportation system.

The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of Canada’s House of Commons convened a special session on February 26, 2026, to address the humanitarian crisis in Cuba. Members of Cuban civil society were invited to provide testimony before the Canadian Parliament — a key country for the island due to its role in tourism, mining investment, and access to foreign currency.

Neither the landline nor mobile data works. Xiomara remains cut off from communication for much of the day. “We don’t have transportation to go see our relatives, and now we can’t even find out how they are,” she complained from Villa Clara. Her experience is similar to that of millions of Cubans suffering a double blackout.