Castro's people

A photographic road trip through Cuba

A new president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has been sworn in, and a new generation has taken political power. Alexandre Meneghini - a Brazilian photographer based in Havana - has been on a road trip to capture images of how the Cuban people live now.

Some aspects of life have changed little since the 1959 revolution. Most people have never known any leader except a Castro; agricultural work is carried out in traditional ways.

But 21st Century changes are making their presence felt in Cuba, as everywhere else - wi-fi, mobile phones, tourism.

You can read more about some of the people photographed here.

David Jinarte, a motorbike taxi driver in Cuba's second city of Santiago, broke away from a state-run job at the sport ministry a few years ago and struck out on his own

Elia Gabriel, a medical student from South Sudan, is studying Cuban medicine in Santiago. He will be the first doctor in his family. "It gives me motivation to be the best doctor I can be, not only for my family but for everyone in South Sudan."

The ferry to Cayo Granma, a small islet in the Bay of Santiago

Quinteto Rebelde, a group of rural musicians who joined the revolutionaries in the Sierra Maestra mountains and broadcast pro-revolutionary songs on the guerrilla's radio station, Radio Rebelde. At the time Fidel Castro told them they were the “ideological weapons” of the revolution. Today they make a living playing for tourists who pass through the area.

Ruben owns his own private business, a small food and drink stall at Playa Girón, in the Bay of Pigs

Lérido Medina and his wife, Aida, have lived in the mountains as coffee farmers for decades. Lérido was among the first small-scale farmers to receive his title to the land from Fidel Castro under the 1959 Agrarian Reform law.

Sugar cane cutter in Camaguey province, Roberto Arribero, earns barely a dollar a day. The equipment his team uses for the harvest is mostly from the Soviet era.

Casas particulares (bed-and-breakfasts) for foreign tourists - like this one in Playa Girón - are among the most popular form of private enterprise permitted under the more relaxed economic rules introduced by Raúl Castro.

Rey is a diving instructor in Girón who works for the state. He says plenty of diving instructors want to go private and set up their own businesses but aren't allowed to under the current rules.

Evening in Manzanillo at the public access wi-fi spot

Night-time scenes in Santiago

Alexandre Meneghini is an award-winning Brazilian photographer based in Cuba.

He worked for the Associated Press for over a decade and currently works for the Reuters news agency. He has worked on assignments ranging from daily life features to armed conflicts in Latin America, the Caribbean, North and West Africa, Middle East and Asia.

He won International Picture of the Year International from the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) among others.

Online production by Ben Milne