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This paper explores the role of communications technology in the U.S.-Cuban relationship. It argues that the idea that anti-government dissidents will use the Internet, cell phones, and social media to foment a popular uprising on the island, modelled after the ‘Arab Spring’ is flawed because it fails to take into account the uniqueness of the Cuban situation. The paper then explores how it has become possible for this idea to have gained such traction in certain discourses in the United States. In doing so, the paper considers the history of paternalism and imperial hubris that has dominated U.S. policy toward Cuba, with an emphasis on the relationship during the Castro era. The paper demonstrates that current U.S. policy rests on fallacious assumptions about Cuba, the Cuban state and the relationship between the Cuban state and the Cuban people. The belief in a ‘Cuban Spring’ and in the idea that the United States could engender revolution in Cuba via communications technology is part of this larger narrative.

Cuba has been remarkably successful at revitalising its energy sector over the last two decades, significantly increasing efficiency and reducing energy intensity and emissions. This article analyses those successes and looks at the policy challenges ahead for Cuba to achieve its 2030 energy policy goals. We argue the nascent success of the 2006 Energy Revolution is due to its comprehensive approach, targeting infrastructure, consumption habits and people's understanding of energy issues. We then examine some of Cuba's current energy challenges, presenting data on Cuba's energy mix as of 2014. We analyse the country's proposed energy policy to achieve 24% penetration of renewable energies in electricity generation by 2030. The Cuban government has an array of policy tools, from stimulating domestic production to changing foreign investment regulations, in order to achieve its goals. One of the most significant recent policy shifts includes the External Investment Law, which creates a regulatory framework and policies, including ones to utilise and develop perspectives of renewable sources of energy that will help to expedite the path toward a diverse energy mix with a large presence of renewables.

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