Alex Ritson

Quite the opposite, in fact.

I'd like Trump to take this place over.

Then let's see if things get better, he says with disarming honesty.

Brainies remains an extreme view.

Most don't want President Trump in charge.

But such is the level of exhaustion at the dire circumstances the public's fear of reprisals for speaking out is beginning to evaporate.

On the streets, the effects of Washington's actions are even clearer.

I'm at a crossroads in central Havana.

It's always been a run-down and difficult neighbourhood for its residents.

But now, every couple of corners, there is a huge, festering pile of uncollected rubbish.

Just discarded box after box and plastic bag after plastic bag.

There's no fuel with which to run the rubbish trucks.

Amid this energy crisis, such basic services are some of the first to go.

The Trump administration's oil shutout is a far cry from the optimism of Washington's Cuba policy of a decade ago.

Next month marks the 10th anniversary of Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba, becoming the first sitting US president to step foot on the island in almost a century.

The man who oversaw the diplomatic thaw was the then US ambassador to Cuba, Jeffrey De Laurentiis.

with a lot of potential for unintended consequences.

The former US ambassador thinks the Trump administration is trying to repeat in Cuba the model it's applied in Venezuela.

That is not overnight change, but rather working with an acceptable partner inside the existing regime.

20 years ago,