This is Planet Money from NPR.
Cuba is in crisis.
Since January, the U.S. Has been preventing almost all oil from reaching the island.
Doctors can't get to the hospitals where they work.
Many buses aren't running.
Trucks can't deliver food and medicine where they're needed.
People's lives are in danger because there are frequent and long blackouts.
In the last few weeks, on more than one occasion, the entire country has lacked power.
In one case, for more than a full day.
We wanted to understand what it's like for people trying to make their way in Cuba right now.
What it's like to try to work or to run a business.
Because even though Cuba has a communist government, at times it's also had a pretty thriving private business sector.
But recently, these blackouts have become so frequent that it's hard to even charge your phone.
Cell service and internet are spotty.
So I've been talking to people through voice notes.
Like this farmer, Lady Casemiro, who says she can only use her phone for about two hours a day and never knows when.
She also told us right now she has no gas, so she can't get to the other farmers she works with.
A hotel manager named Wilfredo Mederos-Garcia told me when the electricity's out, you have to keep the fridge closed.
Try not to open it.
And then when the electricity comes back on, you jump into action.