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    Cuba on the brink as Trump turns up the pressure: ‘There is going to be a real blockade’

    Country is already suffering acute fuel shortage; experts say complete cutoff will be ‘catastrophic’ to its infrastructureIt’s just gone midday on Linea, one of the main roads through Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood, and Javier Peña and Ysil Ribas have been waiting since 6am outside a petrol station. They’re passing the time fixing a leak on Ribas’s 1955 gold and white Mercury.A tanker has pulled up on the forecourt in front of them, and so the queue behind is growing fast. Although this station only takes US dollars, at a cost far out of reach of most Cubans, Peña says it’s their only choice. “There is no gas in the national pesos,” he says, shrugging. Continue reading… More

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    ‘We’re fighting for the soul of the country’: how Minnesota residents came together to face ICE

    Networks created after police killed George Floyd were reactivated to challenge Trump’s mass deportation policyCory never expected he’d spend hours each day driving around after immigration agents, videotaping their moves. The south Minneapolis resident is “not the type of person to do this”, he said.The dangers of what he’s doing, even after the killings of two observers, largely stay out of his mind when he’s watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents – even when he’s gotten hit with pepper spray. In quieter moments, it occurs to him that agents likely know where he lives. Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old whom agents killed while he was filming them, “100% could have been me”, Cory said. Continue reading… More