FEATURE | Is China quietly supplanting Russia as Cuba's main benefactor?

Hours over rutted roads inland from Havana, the small Cuban city of Jatibonico is a snapshot of late 19th-century living, its streets crowded with horse-drawn carriages and lacking power much of the day and night.

The town’s decrepit sugar mill - once the country's largest - sits idle, lacking the parts, electricity, and fuel it needs to operate.

Two years ago a Russian company, Progress Agro, announced it would import machinery, fertiliser, and know-how to revitalise the mill, which once employed 2,000 people.

"When are the (Russians) coming? That's all anybody talks about," said Carlos Tirado Pino, 58, a mill maintenance worker among the few to retain his post.