Havana. As fuel and electricity shortages deepen in Cuba, ordinary people are adopting new ways to manage their daily lives. Amidst prolonged power outages, methods for charging mobile phones, saving food, and operating transportation are going viral on social media.
Dayan Marrero, a computer science student and content creator in Havana, has been making videos about domestic solutions to cope with power outages. One of his videos, demonstrating how to build a homemade antenna to catch weak mobile network signals, has been viewed nearly 800,000 times.
In Cuba, due to fuel shortages, farmers are using coal fires to pasteurize milk. Although tourist numbers have decreased, some businesses are sustaining their operations with the help of solar panels and batteries.
Osiris Hernandez, a tourism entrepreneur from Vinales, has prepared rooms in his home for tourists. Without electricity, he cooks food on coal, grinds coffee by hand, and operates at least one freezer using a solar-powered inverter.
Cuba’s tourism sector is also suffering from the crisis. According to government statistics, tourist arrivals from January to July decreased by 62 percent compared to the same period last year. With the decline in tourists, both the demand for local products and the tourism business have been affected.
In transportation, solar-powered electric tricycles have emerged as a new alternative. In Havana, which has a population of about 1.8 million, these private electric vehicles are transporting passengers amidst a shortage of buses. The batteries of some tricycles can be charged from the grid when electricity is available, and from solar panels installed on rooftops when there is sunlight.
Although Cuba’s crisis has made daily life difficult, young people like Marrero, farmers, and transportation entrepreneurs are finding solutions with limited resources. Amidst the shortage of electricity and fuel, their message is the same—no matter how deep the crisis, the path of jugaad and creativity has not closed.