Cuba’s top destinations deserted, without power or fuel under US sanctions

InternationalCuba's top destinations deserted, without power or fuel under US sanctionsBy Reuters -Apr 15, 2026CIENAGA DE ZAPATA: The sun is setting in Pálpite, a small town on the edge of Cuba’s vast Zapata Swamp, when suddenly the road swarms with activity. But not with the red land crabs that once attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists annually to one of the island’s top eco-tourism destinations. The crowds now are local residents pouring out of their homes in search of a cell ​phone signal when the lights flicker back on amid a U.S. energy blockade that has condemned a large swath of the island to live without electricity. “What tourist will want to ‌visit us under these conditions?” laments Manuela Arencibia Báez, owner of a rental house – now mostly empty – just down the road in the beachfront Playa Larga, 2 miles away and the region’s top overnight destination. She told Reuters she’d lost count of all the reservations she’d had to cancel, including those from tourists already in the country unable to find a taxi driver with sufficient gas to make the two hour trip south and east from Havana. Official data underscore Arencibia’s concerns. International tourist ​arrivals plunged 56% in February from one year prior. Both of Playa Larga’s hotels are closed. Most of its tourist attractions are shuttered as well. Cuba has for decades been plagued by shortages, ​hampered by a state-run economy and a Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo that complicates everything from financial transactions to the import of fuel. But this time ⁠is different, more than a dozen residents and tourism industry workers of the Zapata region told Reuters. “We are much worse off even than during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Arencibia, rattling off a list of lost ​reservations from countries like Switzerland, Canada, France and Germany. Power cuts now run for 22 hours a day, with just a couple hours of light in which residents scramble to call loved ones in Miami, or Havana, ​or to p...