Cuba's Farms Grind to Halt Amid U.S. Blockade

0:00On April 28th, Cuba's farms are grinding to a halt from a U.S. energy blockade that's cut off fuel supplies, leaving fields unploughed and crops. Rodding. Farmers like 58-year-old Eduardo O'Biole's Sobreto can't run their machines, so they're switching to oxen and hand tools just to keep going. This mess ramped up after U.S. strikes on Venezuela, Cuba's main oil hookup, with no shipments for three months in threats of tariffs on anyone. Helping out longtime sanctions already block key imports, pushing the island deeper into crisis amid global energy squeezes. Folks are feeling at heart, hunger spiking for nearly 10 million people, veggie qualities dropping, and prices are out of reach. Power outages mean no irrigation or feed grinding, while brews produce arrives late by horse cart to markets where shoppers pick over wilted, tomatoes and ration potatoes, officials are hitting farms, pushing for total self-reliance, but with just 18 oxen for 65 farmers in places

1:01like Las Minas, it's tough. Retires and extractors now hoe weeds or swing machetes for four bucks a day just to eat. Everyone's in survival mode, blaming the blockade for turning back the clock worse than the 90's crash, waiting on shifts from Havana and Washington to ease the pain. You've been listening to Global News today, AI-powered Global Coverage.