The US and Cuba intensify negotiations as the island's collapse deepens

A CIA director met Cuba’s interior minister and the head of Cuban intelligence in Havana, with photos released by the U.S. intelligence agency. The meeting is presented as the largest milestone in two months of unclear negotiations between Washington and Havana. Both sides announced a commitment to seriously address economic and security issues. The event occurs as Cuba faces extreme vulnerability under an energy embargo imposed since late January. Cuban officials reported a catastrophic fuel shortage, with no reserves remaining. Blackouts followed, sometimes lasting up to 22 hours, and the fuel crisis disrupted hospitals and transportation. Protests increased, including pot-banging demonstrations, garbage fires, and stone-throwing at nonfunctioning gas stations, while repression remained largely intact.

"Cubans, increasingly at their breaking point, are staging protests with pot-banging demonstrations, by setting fire to the piles of garbage on the streets, and by throwing stones at gas stations that are out of service. Amid the collapse, the Castro regime's repressive apparatus is one of the few things that remains standing."

Read at english.elpais.com