Havana Blackouts 2026

This series of photographs taken during the week of the 14/03/2026 and 21/03/2026 aim to draw a rough portrait of Havana in a critical time in the city and the country’s history. Strangled by the current US oil embargo, citizens must deal with fuel shortages, power blackouts, water shortages, a severe drop in tourism and its revenue, a dysfunctional banking system and the gnawing anxiety over how the political future of the country will unfold. All of these privations are added to the country’s long-standing ones stemming from the “special period” era factors such as an aging power grid, inefficient local food production, state control of business initiatives a weakening health care system and more. A visitor to Havana in this time may be struck by the widening gap between the average person and the few who have found a way to capitalize on the opening of the Cuban economy known as “la actualizacion”. As the Trump administrations ruthless pressures meets the decrepitude of the current regime, the future is as murky as the waters off the Malecon on a stormy night.