Andrea Rodriguez | Associated Press

Fidel Castro would have turned 100 on Thursday and his influence still looms over Cuba. Posters and slogans bearing his image are common and the International Book Fair is dedicated to his memory. Supporters praise his legacy of dignity and policies in culture, education and health. However, Cuba faces a deepening crisis due to U.S. sanctions and economic challenges.

Cuba's power blackouts have been stretching sometimes for days, so Cubans are planning their lives around the lights turning back on. Those small gasps of relief may be for just a few minutes or hours — and at any time of the day or night.

The decision will go into effect on Friday and represents a significant blow to Cuba's tourism industry, which has been struggling under new U.S. sanctions.

Cuba is suffering another nationwide blackout, leaving the entire country without power. It's the third incident in two weeks, highlighting the island's vulnerable grid under a U.S. oil embargo.

The plan aims to open the struggling island's economy by expanding private enterprise and attracting foreign investment. The document, not yet public, will be submitted to Cuba’s National Assembly.

Cuba’s powerful Communist Party, or PCC, called an unscheduled session Wednesday, a rare occurrence that comes days after President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced an economic reform package aimed at opening up the struggling island's economy.

While he is believed to wield significant influence over the government, he maintains a low profile even as a general of Cuba’s army.

Elderly residents in Old Havana gather for meals at the Church of the Holy Spirit, a crucial support amid Cuba's economic crisis. Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retiree, attends regularly, relying on these meals as her pension is equivalent to just $4. The elderly, often former government employees, struggle with small pensions and reduced subsidies.

Hundreds of Cuban women have gathered in Havana to decry a U.S. energy embargo and other measures imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump that are strangling the Caribbean island. Tuesday's rally was organized by the Federation of Cuban Women. It is a massive organization with close ties to the government and the Communist Party.

The Cuban government says it will release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island's government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement Thursday said the pardons were a "humanitarian gesture" in connection with Holy Week and didn't mention mounting pressures with the U.S. The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans but didn't name them.

Cuba's deepening economic crisis is pushing struggling families into hunger and forcing them to rely on donations and the black market. One Havana mother says she sometimes has no lunch for herself and her daughters, as fuel shortages, daily blackouts and cuts to rationed food impact families across the island.

The first ship of an international flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba has arrived in Havana loaded with solar panels, bicycles, food and medicine as the island's economic and energy crises deepen. Some 30 people were aboard the first of three ships expected to arrive in Cuba as the island grapples with severe blackouts, a crumbling power grid and a U.S. energy blockade.