# @afpphoto on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Da-NY4LDIIe
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68092242-afpphoto-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/4a070adee6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-19T11:00:51.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** AFP Photo (@afpphoto) — https://gondola.cc/afpphoto

## Caption

Tractors out, oxen in for fuel-starved Cuban farms⁣
⁣
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 plow 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.⁣
⁣
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.⁣
With a liter of diesel now costing over $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 plow.⁣
Gone is the salad rocket, replaced by cheap root vegetables like yuca and sweet potato that locals can afford, but on which Quesada barely breaks even.⁣
⁣
📷 pabloporciuncula⁣
#AFPPhoto

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