Cuba's Hospitals Near Collapse as New U.S. Sanctions Choke Food and Medicine Imports
Doctors tell 60 Minutes they perform surgery by cellphone light and hand-pump oxygen for patients as only one oil tanker has reached the island since January.
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24 stories from Planck Standard. Latest: November 2, 2026.
Doctors tell 60 Minutes they perform surgery by cellphone light and hand-pump oxygen for patients as only one oil tanker has reached the island since January.
The secretary of state posted 'now is the time,' and the CIA reposted it with a video on how to make contact. Cuba's foreign minister rejected 'any threats stemming from U.S. ambitions.'

The state charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, to be announced Monday with Gov. Ron DeSantis, comes on top of a federal prosecution of the 95-year-old former Cuban leader.
Doctors say they cannot source lifesaving pediatric drugs, bread prices have risen tenfold this year, and Washington sanctioned Cuba's state bank on Thursday.
An internal Army message seeks military police, a medical brigade, engineers and logistics commands that could be 'needed in 90-120 days' under Southern Command, U.S. officials told CBS News.
It was the former Cuban president's first appearance since reports of a grave illness and hospitalization that his government never confirmed. His last public outing was Aug. 13.

The unit pulls in case officers, analysts, cyber specialists and covert influence operators — but is not authorized to arm proxies or run lethal operations, according to officials briefed on it.

The state electric utility said the national system went down late Sunday, leaving about 10 million people in the dark. Crews began reconnecting circuits on Monday.

A sweeping new report alleges Havana cultivated American left-wing groups including CodePink and the National Lawyers Guild, drawing swift denials and accusations of a politically motivated witch hunt.

Havana freed the co-creator of the protest anthem "Patria y Vida" on the condition that he leave the island; a flag-waving crowd met him at the airport.
Facing a June 5 U.S. Treasury deadline to sever ties with the Cuban military's tourism conglomerate, the two chains pulled their brands from at least 27 hotels, deepening the island's tourism collapse.

In Santiago de Cuba, the cradle of the Cuban revolution, apartment tower residents resort to firewood and charcoal fires as cooking gas shortages spread across the island.

Federal prosecutors have indicted the former Cuban leader on murder charges, marking a dramatic escalation in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Cuba's UN ambassador claims Havana wants to negotiate but the Trump administration is creating pretexts for military action.

Former Cuban president could face charges over 1996 killings as White House intensifies pressure through energy embargo and surveillance flights.

American surveillance aircraft increase operations over the Caribbean island amid rising tensions in the region.

Speaking at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, the president said an American carrier offshore would be "all it takes" — President Miguel Díaz-Canel replied that Cubans "would die" before surrendering.

Cuba's top demand is ending the Trump administration's oil blockade, which has plunged the island into rolling blackouts. A Castro grandson was in the Cuban delegation.

Moscow is defying Trump's oil embargo of Cuba by sending a second tanker to the island, even as a nationwide blackout, rationed food, and suspended surgeries signal a deepening humanitarian emergency.

Rising demonstrations on the island raise questions about potential popular uprising despite the absence of organized political opposition.
The tanker carrying crude oil is expected to reach its destination Tuesday, providing critical energy relief to the Caribbean island amid mounting U.S. pressure.

Speaking at the FII Summit in Miami Beach, the president jokingly asked the press to ignore the comment — then repeated it, prompting a sharp response from Havana.
WatchThe island of 11 million people has gone dark again after an unexpected failure at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant — the third nationwide blackout since March 16 as Cuba runs out of fuel.

The nationwide blackout was caused by a failure at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant, highlighting Cuba's decaying infrastructure amid U.S. sanctions and fuel shortages.