I met Nilda while walking a steep farm path in the hills above Baracoa, Cuba. She had emerged from the brush with a big smile, wearing rubber boots, wielding a machete, and shouldering a burlap bag filled with freshly harvested frijoles (beans). After some conversation along the road, she invited me to her cabin for coffee from her farm.. Inside, joined by two neighbors, Nilda asked me if I liked my café “fuerte." Even stronger was the enviable warmth Nilda offered in her casa, and throughout our chance encounter.

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Portraits of Cubans and Cuban Life

Todd Shapera | Cuba

Organization: Todd Shapera Photography

My fascination with Cuba began shortly after President Obama’s 2016 opening, when cycling breathtaking backroads in the tobacco growing region of Viñales to document the lives of farmers.

Over seven subsequent journeys, my connection has deepened while hiking mountain footpaths and cycling along seaside villages to observe, listen to, and photograph Cubans living their lives.


Invariably, when I appear at their fences, Cubans have opened their arms to engage, and share their stories. These encounters have fueled deeper connections, and a passion to experience more. Twice I’ve brought prints to give to folks I photographed.

If the 2016 Obama opening brought hope for growing tourism, trade and investment, this soon boomeranged into a triple whammy of pain: six years of Trump and Biden travel and trade embargoes, a two-year national Covid shutdown, and repressive policies by the Cuban regime.

Together, these have wrought devastating food and medicine shortages, deepening poverty, despair, and record flight.


Throughout, it’s remained uplifting trying to capture the spirit of resilient people who deserve more than empty shelves.

email:  Todds429@gmail.com

web: www.ToddShapera.com

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