Caribbean correspondent Dánica Coto has returned to Cuba after more than three years.
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near Carmichael after incident, JSO saysWill there be snow in Florida this weekend? There’s a chanceTourists travel in a classic American car along the Malecon littered with sargassum seaweed, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. Drivers wait in line to fill up at a gas station in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, fourth from right, holds up a Cuban flag during a rally to protest the killing of Cuban officers during the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. A bird in a cage sits for sale on the hood of a classic American car in Havana, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Tourists travel in a classic American car along the Malecon littered with sargassum seaweed, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. The landscape and lives in Cuba are now very different, and more changes are anticipated since the fallout of theThis is an interview of Coto with Associated Press editor Laura Martínez.I’m struck by the amount of garbage piling up in corners at popular tourist spots, and by the occasional Cuban wearing neatly pressed clothes rummaging through it. I observed one clean-cut man step into a pile of soggy rubbish, grab a small plastic container, fish for its lid and walk away with his find.I’ve also noticed that Havana’s beautiful architecture is crumbling more than ever. Once bright facades ranging from baroque to art nouveau are slowly being reduced to rubble in some areas.Alternatively, I was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of dog owners in Havana. I saw Cubans waking up early to walk well-cared for dogs, with the smaller ones sporting T-shirts to protect them from a cold snap in late January.It’s the smallest things that reveal the most. The upgraded hotel where I’m staying cuts flimsy napkins in half to save resources and occasionally offers very small dabs of butter when it’s available. Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon for office buildings in Havana to lack toilet paper and for water to be cut by mid-afternoon. A growing number of Cubans are turning to firewood and charcoal so they can cook, because not only are power outages common, but natural gas is not always available, and many cannot afford solar panels. Fuel and natural gas are so scarce sometimes that a group of people living in the city have set up a makeshift fireplace outside their building to cook food. I’ve also seen people scramble to rearrange schedules so they can spend several hours in line to buy gasoline. I’ve also observed people crowded outside banks, with Cubans telling me that there’s a cash deficit. Cubans also have told me that they’ve seen an increase in disruption in communications, making it harder to call people or browse online., an economic depression that struck in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That period eased when Venezuela, under former President Hugo Chávez, became an ally. Even before the U.S. attacked Venezuela, Cuba was struggling with severe blackouts, soaring prices and scarcity of basic goods. Experts say that a disruption in oil shipments from Venezuela and now Mexico could unleash a potentially catastrophic crisis, especially since U.S. President Donald TrumpOverall, many Cubans I’ve interviewed have shrugged off what could be impending doom, with experts saying that the Trump administration aims to spark a popular uprising in hopes that a new government will be established. But Cubans have said they will not be manipulated by outside forces. Meanwhile, some are preparing even though they doubt an invasion is looming. Those who can afford it are installing solar panels, while others are growing their own produce.It’s hard to say. The U.S. government is stepping up its rhetoric, with Trump asserting that Cuba is failing while U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau recently claimed that the “Castro regime is tottering…after 67 years of a failed revolution.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has said that the U.S. government seeks “the opportunity for a change in dynamic. That’s a country that’s been backward. It has no functional economy.”Meanwhile, the Cuban government has not budged or changed its defiant speech. Cubans are going about their business as they decry the U.S. embargo and try to find ways to subsist.Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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