If I may be the spoilsport today (and my apologies), there is one strange thing and one probable strange thing about that Earth by Night thingy.
1. Cuba is all lit up. I’ve been to Cuba (Havana) and there are no lights to speak of…a rare light here and there coming from an apartment here and an apartment there, but one can say there are really no lights at night.
When Carter was there, I was amazed to see how the Malecón (the seawall which is paralleled by a boulevard) was suddenly all lit as if it were daytime. That isn’t true in real life. It’s dark.
2. That little strip of light going through Panama. It can only be the Panama Canal; except, the Panama Canal runs NW-SE and not NE-SW.
I think if you look at the large image, you can see that while Havana is visible, it's not anywhere near as bright as the Florida coasts, or most any medium sized US city. Most of Cuba is indeed dark. Except the GitMo area of course.
2. That little strip of light going through Panama. It can only be the Panama Canal; except, the Panama Canal runs NW-SE and not NE-SW.
A quick look at a map reveals that little strip of light is actually the southern coast of Panama. The bright light at the northwest end of it is Panama City, while the little spot of light to the northwest of Panama City is Colon. The canal itself runs through pretty unpopulated territory with few lights, and the largest part of it is the big lake, which contains no lights other than a few sets of ship's lights.