CAIMITO, Cuba — Alexander Quesada was gifted a tractor for turning a Cuban rubbish dump into a model farm, but these days he is using oxen to pull his plough as a severe energy crisis worsened by a US blockade hobbles food production. The changing fortunes of Quesada’s organic farm Finca Burgambilia — named after the vibrant purple flowers that bedeck the entrance — follow those of communist Cuba’s relations with the United States over the past decade. Quesada, 52, looks back fondly on what he refers to as the “Obama years” a decade ago, when a historic detente with Washington helped spur a tourist influx.
As visitors began pouring off cruise ships into Havana, restaurant owners began beating a path to Finca Burgambilia — once a local dump — for gourmet greens like salad rocket that were virtually unheard of on the island. The restaurant revenue acted as a cash cow for the eight-hectare (20-acre) farm, allowing Quesada to expand and invest in new ventures, such as organic honey. "We would sell a kilo of rocket and with that subsidise maybe 100 kilos of lettuce and, therefore, maintain a balance and continue developing," said the energetic father of two who buzzes with ideas for how to get ahead.
He pulled up the rocks that studded the farm, used them to make paths, built raised vegetable beds and dug an irrigation channel. But since US President Donald Trump imposed a fuel blockade in January, which put a nail in the coffin of the already sputtering tourist industry, Quesada has struggled to remain afloat. General view of a set of solar panels and a greenhouse at La Burgambilia agritourism farm in Caimito, Artemisa province, Cuba, June 25, 2026.
The blockade intensified the worst energy crisis in Cuba's post-revolutionary history, plunging homes and businesses into darkness for up to 70 hours at a time. With a litre of diesel now costing over US$3 — around half the average monthly public sector wage — the swanky red tractor Quesada received from the government as a reward for high yields sits idly in the shed. A pair of oxen now pull the plough.
Gone is the salad rocket, replaced by cheap root vegetables like yucca and sweet potato that locals can afford, but on which Quesada barely breaks even. "We are at a standstill and rather in decline," he admitted. Caimito lies just west of Havana in Artemisa province, the capital's breadbasket.
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