HAVANA: Once a week, Alfredo Garcia crosses the street to his neighbor’s house in the Cuban capital, Havana, to open the windows, sweep the floors and water the plants. Before she left for Spain, the owner asked Garcia, 58, to leave the lights on and make her home in the upscale Playa neighborhood look lived-in to deter thieves. That was six months ago and there is no sign of her return, or any of the other people who have joined the biggest wave of emigration from Cuba since the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. “I’m the only one who stayed. All my friends from this block emigrated,” Garcia told AFP with more than a hint of nostalgia. According to official statistics, Cuba’s population has dropped from 11.1 million in the last census in 2012 to just under 10 million this year. Between January 2022 and August 2024, more than 700,000 people immigrated to the United States legally or illegally, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Others have made a new life in Europe or closer to home in Latin America.
