‘That crazy old man should leave Cuba alone’: farmers bear the brunt of Trump’s pressure campaign

In Artemisa, the country’s agricultural heartland, sanctions and fuel shortages have made a tough life almost impossible

Abraham Rodríguez stares at the corn furrows he must plough before the end of the day.

It is not even noon in Artemisa, https://www.theguardian.com/world/cuba">Cuba, but the sun beats down hard and he’s already tired: working the land is a tough job.

He has done it for almost half his life, since he was 13 and his mother got a divorce.

He is turning 26 this year.

Farming has always been hard, he says, but now it is almost impossible to sustain. “I make 1,200 pesos (£1.80) a day, so I have to work two days to buy a bottle of oil.”