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HAVANA – Felicia de la Caridad Alvarez, a resident of Old Havana, knows a thing or two about survival.
The 64-year-old former hospital custodian, blind in one eye, suffers from hypertension and diabetes. She rarely enjoys running water or electricity. The food in her refrigerator has spoiled. Even her TV is broken, leaving her unable to discern who, exactly, is to blame for her woes.
Millions of Cubans face a similar plight. Cuba’s already inefficient state-run economy — long plagued by shortages — has descended in recent months into a full-blown crisis in the wake of hardened sanctions and a fuel blockade by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
