Cubans grapple with fuel shortages and blackouts as US steps up pressure

The incident at the centre of a murder charge against Cuba's former president, Raúl Castro, is burned into the collective memory of both Havana and Miami.

The US case, unveiled on Wednesday, accuses Castro and five others in the shooting down of two planes belonging to Cuban-American group Brothers to the Rescue in 1966 - killing four people, including three Americans.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has called this and other charges levelled at Castro "a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since said Cuba poses a "national security threat" and the likelihood of a peaceful agreement between the two countries is "not high".

As the charges against Raúl Castro were announced, many Cubans were unaware and incommunicado due to the 20-hour blackouts continuing to grip the island. The US has imposed a near-total fuel blockade that has affected almost every facet of daily life.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to exert pressure on Cuba and has openly discussed toppling its communist regime.

The US has demanded political and economic reforms but the specifics are unclear beyond a leadership change. They could include a pledge to open up the economy to more foreign investment and a commitment to end the presence of Russian or Chinese intelligence agencies on the island.

Ana Rosa Romero lives on the 11th floor of the Granma Dos building, an imposing modernist social housing block in the Cuban capital, Havana. A widow in her 70s, she said that when her husband died recently, a blackout in her neighbourhood meant she had to sit with his body for hours before it could be moved.

These days, with the lift so often not working, she says she barely leaves her apartment.

"You can hardly go out," said the former philosophy teacher, a framed picture of Fidel Castro on her wall.

"If you do venture out, it's with the uncertainty of not knowing what's coming next. When is the power due to go out? When is it coming back? How many hours are we going to be without electricity?"

It is a risk to find herself at the bottom of the stairs at her age with eleven flights to climb with bags of shopping, Ana Rosa says. But others in the building are worse off.

The building's superintendent, Juana Garcia, says nine residents have pacemakers and simply can't take the chance of being caught without the lift. Others have been trapped inside the elevator mid-blackout for hours.

Juana has spent almost six months trying to pump water to more than 100 residents with no electricity. Some elderly residents are bedridden and get no water unless a neighbour carries it up several flights in the dark.

"It's dangerous to go up and down these stairs without lights. This is a such a difficult situation. We know we're going through tough times, but it's sad to see this great building stuck in the darkness," she laments.