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Cubans are coming up with creative ways to generate power when their island has almost none left
CNN ^ | September 05, 2026 | Juan Carlos López

Posted on 09/05/2026 5:53:07 PM PDT by Red Badger

Havana — How to conserve cellphone battery when recharging options are scarce; how to preserve food when the fridge isn’t working; how to cope with the heat when air-conditioners aren’t an option; how to generate power when the whole country has almost none left. These are the sort of tutorials that have made the Instagram feed of influencer Dayán Marrero indispensable to many Cubans as they try to adapt to the rolling electricity blackouts and fuel shortages that are increasingly part of everyday life on this Caribbean island.

As the US-imposed oil blockade that is worsening the situation bites ever deeper, Marrero and his compatriots are having to get creative. Farmers pasteurize milk over charcoal fires; commuters ride solar-powered Chinese tricycles; tour guides grind coffee by hand for the vanishingly few visitors that remain.

Like his fellow countrymen, Marrero — a third-year computer science student at the Agrarian University of Havana — has become adept at adapting.

Previously, the idea that he might become a content creator had “never even crossed my mind,” yet here he is, in the living room of his home in Caraballo, a former sugar town, promoting the latest must-have items, such as a rechargeable fan that also provides light while he records his videos. And he is successful; one of his most popular posts, a tutorial on how to build an antenna to pick up the mobile network’s elusive internet signal, is approaching 800,000 views.

Still, if he is to reach his next goal as an influencer — establishing a presence on TikTok — he will have to get even more creative, as use of the app is restricted by US sanctions.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Food; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: cubatruth; suckstobecuba

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VIDEO AT LINK......................
1 posted on 09/05/2026 5:53:07 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Marco Rubio can wear one more hat as the Governor of Cuba. He’ll have the power fixed in a Jefe!


2 posted on 09/05/2026 6:07:05 PM PDT by Theophilus (I'm all out of attention to this matter...)
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To: Red Badger

Marco Rubio can wear one more hat as the Governor of Cuba. He’ll have the power fixed in a Jefe!


3 posted on 09/05/2026 6:07:10 PM PDT by Theophilus (I'm all out of attention to this matter...)
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To: Red Badger

Potatoes?


4 posted on 09/05/2026 6:13:06 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Red Badger

Can we send most of the Hollywood Actors there to show them how to make socialism and the green new deal work properly???


5 posted on 09/05/2026 6:15:56 PM PDT by eyeamok
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To: FamiliarFace

Or lemons!...............


6 posted on 09/05/2026 6:17:16 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: Red Badger

Marco, save your people.


7 posted on 09/05/2026 6:17:33 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: Red Badger

;)


8 posted on 09/05/2026 6:17:58 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Theophilus

I seeth what thou didst thereupon.............


9 posted on 09/05/2026 6:19:56 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: Red Badger
"Cubans are coming up with creative ways to generate power when their island has almost none left"

old guy pedaling a bicycle generator?


10 posted on 09/05/2026 6:21:44 PM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: eyeamok

Send Michael Moore to make another “documentary” of Cuba.


11 posted on 09/05/2026 6:22:14 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: T.B. Yoits




12 posted on 09/05/2026 6:24:41 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Red Badger

CNN naturally blames it all on the US when other major issues contribute, namely, no more free oil from the Chicoms and others, plus no money to actually buy oil, plus failing power generation plants due to decades of maintenance neglect ...


13 posted on 09/05/2026 6:25:04 PM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: catnipman

Clown World “Journalism”.


14 posted on 09/05/2026 6:29:57 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: FamiliarFace

Po-ta-toes! Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.


15 posted on 09/05/2026 7:00:24 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: eyeamok

I want fatboy Myers to go there and see the true socialism he thinks is so wonderful.


16 posted on 09/05/2026 7:00:45 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: ealgeone

Correction....Michael Moore.


17 posted on 09/05/2026 7:01:14 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: Jeff Chandler

What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn’t he?


18 posted on 09/05/2026 7:24:46 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: Red Badger

I just saw this in our local news rag that has pro paid trolls to post everything anti Trump. According to them this is all Trump’s fault and the world will be better off because the ever so smart Cuban’s are building a renewable energy world that won’t enrich the evyil big oil companies and Trump’s billionaire buddies.

Yeah. I’m sure Cubans who don’t have refrigeration, lights, or air conditioning are thrilled using some Chinese made solar panels to power a smuggled camp light to stuff it to Trump.


19 posted on 09/05/2026 7:27:50 PM PDT by Organic Panic ( )
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To: McGruff

Americans are Marco’s “people”.


20 posted on 09/05/2026 7:44:46 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.)
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