By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
A man marches holding a Cuban national flag along Havana’s waterfront to mark International Workers’ Day at the Anti-Imperialist Platform in front of the US Embassy in Havana on 1 May 2026.
Analysis - A few days ago, the manager of the building where CNN's Havana bureau is located rapped on our door with an urgent message: She needed to know if we would be coming to work during the "imminent" US invasion.
Washington's intense pressure campaign on Cuba had already been keenly felt in day-to-day life. Under the ongoing US oil blockade, power flickers off in our offices several times a day.
The compounding economic crisis means there's no fuel for the building generator or even toilet paper for the bathrooms. Every day, I walk past an enormous artificial Christmas tree in the lobby that no one has bothered to take down.
