标签： South America

SANTA CRUZ DEL NORTE, Cuba — In this coastal community where sulfur scents the air from petroleum production and one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants operates, residents exist in paradoxical darkness. Despite reactivated energy infrastructure, the people of Santa Cruz del Norte face escalating hardships as geopolitical tensions between Washington and Havana trigger severe fuel shortages.

The town east of Havana has become emblematic of Cuba’s deepening crisis, where daily blackouts force residents to revert to primitive cooking methods. Kenia Montoya, a 50-year-old mother, recently dismantled her bathroom door for firewood to feed her children. ‘Things are getting worse for us now,’ she lamented, gesturing toward the faded purple sheet currently serving as her bathroom door.

This deterioration follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on nations supplying oil to Cuba, effectively strangling the island’s energy imports. ‘Well, it’s a failed nation now,’ Trump declared this week. ‘They’re not getting any money from Venezuela, and they’re not getting any money from anywhere.’

The Cuban government remains silent regarding oil reserves, offering no clarity on potential Russian assistance following disrupted Venezuelan shipments after U.S. actions against Venezuela’s leadership in January. While Mexican humanitarian aid including food has been pledged, residents fear worsening conditions.

Gladys Delgado, 67, survives on a $6 monthly pension while sewing colorful rugs from clothing scraps for supplemental income. ‘With all those tariffs they’re going to impose on countries, no oil will come in, and how are we going to live?’ she questioned.

The human impact manifests in countless small tragedies: diabetic Minorkys Hoyos cooking cassava in darkness, her rechargeable lights broken; children playing with dominoes on dusty sidewalks; families celebrating birthdays early to avoid evening blackouts.

Despite the town’s mural proclaiming ‘NO ONE GIVES UP HERE. LONG LIVE A FREE CUBA,’ residents increasingly wonder about their endurance capacity. The crisis combines severe blackouts, soaring prices, and critical shortages of basic goods, creating what local Iván Amores describes as ‘truly torture’ compared to former prosperity.

As temperatures dropped to record lows in late January, the resourcefulness Cubans are renowned for—improvised lanterns using baby food jars, handmade tube lights with USB ports—becomes essential yet increasingly inaccessible for pensioners like Mariela Viel, who receives $8 monthly after 40 years of service.

Through the darkness, moments of resilience persist. Birthday celebrations continue under yellow moons, with music blasting from scooter speakers as 61-year-old Olga Lilia Laurenti philosophizes: ‘You’re not going to waste part of your life on something that’s out of your control… You need laughter, you need joy.’

Truckers and merchants from Colombia and Ecuador converged at their shared border on Tuesday, voicing strong opposition to the escalating trade conflict between the two South American nations. The demonstrators demanded the immediate removal of recently imposed 30% tariffs on numerous goods, warning these measures would severely damage border economies and impact energy sectors on both sides.

Carlos Bastidas, president of an Ecuadorian transportation workers association, articulated the protesters’ concerns, stating that tariffs ‘generate crises, they don’t help the economy.’ He emphasized their hope that both governments would eliminate these measures and establish effective dialogue mechanisms.

The trade dispute originated when Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, a conservative leader who has sought closer ties with the Trump administration, implemented tariffs last month on Colombian products. Noboa characterized these levies as a ‘security tax,’ claiming Colombia had failed to adequately combat cocaine trafficking across their border. He announced via social media platform X that the tariffs would remain until Colombia took ‘firm actions’ against drug cartels.

Colombia responded with reciprocal 30% tariffs on Ecuadorian goods including rice and automotive parts, and additionally threatened to cease electricity exports to its neighbor. This energy threat carries significant weight as Ecuador depends heavily on hydroelectric power and experienced serious power shortages in 2024. These reciprocal trade measures took effect on February 1.

Despite sharing a border, neither nation ranks as the other’s primary trading partner, with both producing similar export commodities including coffee, flowers, bananas, and oil. According to Colombia’s statistics agency, bilateral trade reached approximately $2.3 billion last year, with Colombia exporting about $1.7 billion worth of goods to its smaller neighbor.

The economic impact is particularly acute in border regions. Edison Mena, president of a Colombian truckers association in the border city of Ipiales, revealed that 38% of his city’s economy depends on commerce with Ecuador.

Critics of President Noboa suggest the trade war serves as a diversion from his government’s domestic challenges. The tariff announcement coincided with the publication of crime statistics showing Ecuador’s homicide rate reached 50 murders per 100,000 residents in 2025—the highest in the nation’s recent history. Since 2020, Ecuador’s homicide rate has quintupled as international drug gangs battle for control of the country’s ports, transforming the once peaceful nation into a major cocaine transit point.

Deep within the sweltering Colombian Amazon, Black Hawk helicopters slice through the oppressive humidity carrying elite Jungle Commandos on their daily mission. This specially trained police unit, originally established with British SAS expertise in 1989 and equipped with American weaponry, represents Colombia’s frontline defense against an ever-evolving narcotics industry that supplies approximately 70% of the world’s cocaine.

The operational tempo remains relentless. Multiple times daily, weather permitting, these commandos descend into jungle clearings to discover and destroy makeshift cocaine laboratories. Recent United Nations data reveals coca cultivation now covers an area nearly double the size of Greater London and quadruple that of New York City, indicating the staggering scale of the challenge.

During one recent mission documented by the BBC, commandos discovered a rudimentary processing facility partially concealed by banana trees. The site contained essential production components: chemical drums and fresh coca leaves awaiting transformation into paste. While workers fled into the jungle, no arrests were made—reflecting Colombia’s current strategy of targeting narcotics kingpins rather than impoverished farmers.

The political context adds complexity to these operations. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly criticized Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s administration, suggesting insufficient action against drug trafficking and even hinting at military intervention. President Petro counters that his government has achieved historic drug seizures while questioning UN methodology that shows cocaine production reaching record highs under his leadership.

Major Cristhian Cedano Díaz, a 16-year veteran of this struggle, acknowledges the frustrating reality that destroyed labs can be rebuilt within days, sometimes mere meters from original locations. Yet he maintains that persistent operations impact criminal profitability by continuously eliminating crops and chemical precursors.

The human dimension emerges most poignantly through farmers like ‘Javier’ (a pseudonym), who cultivates coca in the mountainous Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela. For Javier, growing the controversial plant represents survival rather than choice—the only means to support his five daughters in an area dominated by guerrilla groups including the ELN and FARC dissidents.

‘If you want to survive, you have to,’ Javier explains, acknowledging the moral dilemma while emphasizing the absence of alternatives. His makeshift laboratory processes paste when materials are available, though recent turf wars among armed groups have disrupted local markets.

Both Major Díaz and farmer Javier, separated by only two years in age but worlds apart in circumstance, share hope that their children might inherit a Colombia transformed—where economic opportunity replaces the desperate calculus that fuels the global cocaine trade.

A BBC news team has been granted unprecedented access to Colombia’s intensified campaign against narcotics production, venturing into the country’s remote jungle regions where cocaine manufacturing thrives. Senior international correspondent Orla Guerin embedded with an elite counter-narcotics unit during a hazardous aerial mission over the cocaine production heartland.

The operation focused on locating and demolishing clandestine cocaine laboratories strategically concealed within dense tropical forests. These rudimentary facilities represent the critical first stage in the global cocaine supply chain, where raw coca leaves undergo chemical processing into export-grade narcotics.

Colombian authorities deployed specialized aircraft and tactical teams to identify these hidden installations despite sophisticated camouflage techniques employed by drug cartels. The mission involved precise aerial surveillance followed by targeted strikes to dismantle production infrastructure, significantly disrupting manufacturing capabilities.

This frontline reporting reveals the ongoing challenges in combating drug trafficking organizations that continuously adapt their methods and relocate operations to evade detection. The Colombian government’s renewed offensive demonstrates the complex interplay between law enforcement strategies, geographical constraints, and the evolving tactics of narcotics producers seeking to maintain supply routes to international markets.