A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Now that the midterms are over, will President Trump focus even more attention abroad? The administration has been ramping up pressure on Cuba over the past year and increasingly talking about regime change. The U.S. blockade on Cuba's fuel supply is already having a crippling impact. There are frequent blackouts that last longer than a day and critical shortages on food, fuel and medicines. NPR's Eyder Peralta is in Havana. Eyder, you've been away from Cuba for nearly a year and hadn't been issued a visa until now. What are you seeing? What are your first impressions?
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: I mean, this is by far the worst I've ever seen Havana, A. At night, huge parts of this city are pitch-black. Right now, my neighborhood is completely dark. This city, you know, has always been known for its vibrant nightlife. And right now, the streets are completely empty. Yesterday, even the iconic capitol building was totally dark. You have to walk around with a flashlight.
And Cubans are desperate. Their money loses value every day. They no longer get the basic food or medicine that the government used to give them. They're sleeping in hot apartments. One guy I was talking to pointed to this completely dark road, and he said, look, that's our future. And the worst part, he said, is that we don't see an end to this.
MARTÍNEZ: And, you know, U.S. foreign policy has always had a kind of an outsized influence on what happens in Cuba. I mean, have you talked to Cubans about the results of the U.S. midterms and maybe what that might mean for them?
PERALTA: I did. Yesterday, I asked this group of older guys. And I said, what do you think about the results of the U.S. elections? And they rolled their eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "There's no electricity," they told me.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
PERALTA: So it was up to me to break the news in person. And one of the guys, whose name we're not using because he fears retribution from the government, said, no matter who's in charge in the U.S., things will not change for us.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "The U.S. government has never really cared about Cuba," he's saying. "All those powers that the U.S. flexes in the Middle East don't mean anything here."
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Here," he says, "you can take to the streets. They give you two kicks in the butt, stick you in jail for 80 years and nothing happens. The world doesn't care." And what you're hearing there is someone who feels totally forgotten.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, sure does. I mean, how seriously is Havana taking the threat of any U.S. action?
PERALTA: I think it's clear that any unilateral action by President Trump is going to become harder now that Republicans have lost the House and the Senate. But analysts and Cuban officials I've spoken to think it's very unlikely that the U.S. will ease the oil blockade. But I think one of the big questions here becomes domestic policy. There are also big changes happening here in Cuba. The Cuban government, more than at any point in its 70 years in power, has loosened its grip on the economy.
You know, this city is in the dark. And Cubans are looking for basic medicine on the street. But there are also luxury SUVs on the street. There are fine dining restaurants that have generators keeping the air conditioning on. There are little stores selling fancy cheese. And the question is whether those things are enough to change the lives of Cubans. And what I've heard on the streets is anger about another thing that's changed. Cubans are angry that our ravenous capitalism has settled here, and now you have, have and have-nots on this communist island.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's NPR's Eyder Peralta in Havana. Thank you very much.
PERALTA: Thank you, A.
(SOUNDBITE OF LUCA STRICAGNOLI'S "THE FUTURE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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