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They're Losing Reasons to Stay Behind in Cuba

"La Retaguardia (The Ones Who Stay)"

NYT    9 October 2026

They're Losing Reasons to Stay Behind in Cuba | "La Retaguardia (The Ones Who Stay)"

video    Op-Docs    NYT    9 October 2026

Cuba is experiencing one of the most severe crises since its revolution.

Longstanding economic, social and political challenges,

alongside the tightening of the United States’ decades-long embargo,

have pushed the country to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe.

Now Cuba faces an astonishing exodus.

About 2.75 million people have left the country since 2020.

Meanwhile,

those still in Cuba must build their lives against a backdrop of crisis.

In 2022,

we began meeting regularly with young artists in Havana to document their work.

As trust between us deepened,

they began to share how Cuba’s current wave of migration was reshaping their lives.

In the short documentary above,

“La Retaguardia” (The Ones Who Stay),

we capture four people who have chosen to remain.

Devon, Tomás, Elephanto and Israa are young, creative, ambitious

— and haunted by the question of whether to stay or leave.

Increased access to the internet and social media allows them

a vivid picture of the outside world.

The contrast with their lives couldn’t be more stark.

In telling their stories,

our goal was to explore what it means for them to be young and Cuban

in an era marked by uncertainty, absence and constant departure.

We also hope to have painted an intimate portrait of a side of migration rarely shown:

those who stay behind.

Documentary and text by Olivier Côté and Jean-François Bouchard.

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ5gebHrNU4

Cuba    FR / UK / USA

https://www.theguardian.com/world/
cuba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Cuba

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Fidel_Castro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Raúl_Castro

Cuba, USA > early 21st, 20th century

Cuba, USA > early 21st, 20th century

Fidel Castro (1926 or 1927 - 2016)

2026

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000011002617/
cubans-arent-sleeping-in-sweltering-blackouts.html - July 28, 2026

https://www.mediapart.fr/studio/portfolios/
la-havane-l-eau-sous-tension - 22 July 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/21/
us-state-department-report-cuba

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/08/
cuba-power-outages-electricity

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jun/04/
cuba-first-independent-magazine-sneeze-troubles-began-state-security

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/
us/politics/trump-cuba-pressue-castro.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/
world/americas/cuba-energy-crisis-photos.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
us-plans-indict-raul-castro-raise-cubans-fears-force-2026-05-15/

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/
cubas-electrical-grid-suffers-partial-collapse-protests-flare-2026-05-14/

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/
cuba-has-run-out-diesel-fuel-oil-amid-us-oil-blockade-
minister-says-2026-05-14/

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/may/05/
cuban-doctors-latin-america-caribbean-threat-us-embargo

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/19/
sincere-dialogue-needed-to-ease-cubas-grave-humanitarian-crisis-
say-mexico-spain-and-brazil

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/15/
cuba-self-medicate-drugs-mental-health

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CUBA-CRISIS/
OIL-EXPLAINER/gkvlkjgxkpb/ - April 8, 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2026/mar/26/
is-cuba-trumps-next-target-podcast

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/19/
world/americas/cuba-blackout-electricity.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/06/
trump-ice-cuban-american

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/26/
what-to-know-cuba-boat-attack

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/26/
what-we-know-so-far-people-shot-killed-boat-cuba

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/25/
caricom-summit-2026-caribbean-leaders-us-military-strikes

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/25/
cuba-says-
border-guards-killed-four-gunmen-on-us-registered-speedboat

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/25/
caricom-summit-2026-caribbean-leaders-us-military-strikes

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/feb/18/
us-sanctions-power-cuts-climate-crisis-
why-cuba-is-betting-on-renewables

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/feb/15/
cuba-crisis-oil-shortage-venezuela-donald-trump-havana

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/13/
no-water-or-electricity-
and-children-begging-in-streets-filled-with-rubbish-
but-this-is-why-i-wont-leave-cuba

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/12/
mexico-cuba-aid-oil-trump

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/11/
russian-tourists-evacuate-cuba-us-oil-blockade

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/11/
people-living-in-cuba-
tell-us-how-you-are-affected-by-the-fuel-blockade

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/09/
air-canada-cancels-cuba-flights-fuel

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/01/
cuba-fuel-shortage-trump-tariffs

2024

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/26/
cuba-power-grid-failure-financial-crisis

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
cubas-electrical-grid-collapses-second-time-
entire-country-again-without-power-2024-10-19/

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/18/
nx-s1-5157835/cuba-plunged-into-an-island-wide-blackout-
as-power-grid-collapses

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
cubans-missing-invisible-shipwrecks-route-us-
leave-painful-void-home-2024-10-12/

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/
hundreds-thousands-cuba-without-water-2024-09-13/

https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2024/mar/29/
northern-lights-and-a-cheese-ceremony-
photos-of-the-day-friday

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/20/
1239711488/cuba-protests-food-shortage-blackouts-oil

2023

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/mar/13/
the-cuban-collapse-photo-essay - Guardian photo essay

2022

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2022/aug/05/
dreaming-of-the-major-leagues-young-cuban-baseball-players-
in-pictures - Guardian picture gallery

2021

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/13/
1015318087/the-hip-hop-song-thats-driving-cubas-unprecedented-protests

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jul/12/
thousands-march-in-cuba-in-rare-mass-protests-amid-economic-crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jul/12/
the-charcoal-men-of-cuba-a-photo-essay

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/07/
cuba-during-the-pandemic-photo-essay

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/04/
992951030/in-the-cias-1st-plot-against-the-castros-fidel-wasnt-the-target

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/16/
988019067/cuba-without-a-castro-the-islands-old-guard-exits-the-stage

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/25/
980789381/cubas-revolutionary-dream-making-its-own-covid-vaccine

2020

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/01/
897904872/pandemic-may-be-the-push-
to-open-cubas-state-controlled-economy

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/22/
860579647/as-pandemic-halts-the-military-court-at-guant-namo-
critics-call-for-its-closure

2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/
books/review/wendy-guerra-revolution-sunday.html

2016

http://www.gocomics.com/robrogers/2016/11/29

http://www.gocomics.com/garyvarvel/2016/11/29

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/us/
cuba-eases-decades-long-restriction-on-sea-travel.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/03/19/world/americas/cuba-
on-the-edge-of-change-photo-essay.html

2015

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/18/world/americas/cuba-
state.html

2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/
opinion/sunday/end-the-us-embargo-on-cuba.html

1983

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/
movies/screen-al-pacino-stars-in-scarface.html

Cuban        UK

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/15/
cuba-self-medicate-drugs-mental-health

Cuban        USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/
opinion/why-are-cubans-so-special.html

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/12/
should-the-us-normalize-relations-with-cuba

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