Emergency numbers and help in Cuba

The numbers

• 104 is the ambulance number, not 911 or 112. Save all three before you go.
• Operators speak Spanish. Have your casa host or hotel make the call if you can.

If something medical happens

• Payment in foreign currency is required in advance. Keep an emergency cash reserve separate from your spending money - your card will not rescue you.
• Havana's facilities are the best in the country. In the provinces, the realistic plan for anything serious is getting to Havana.
• Contact your insurer, accepting that you may have no internet to do it. Have the number written on paper.

If communication goes down

• Internet access can be blocked during political tension. Agree with people at home in advance that silence is not an emergency signal.
• Your consulate may be a long way away and Cuba is a long country. Know where yours is before you leave Havana.

Things not to do

• Do not attend or film a demonstration. Unapproved ones are broken up.
• Do not photograph military areas. The FCDO warns that even possession of such photographs can be regarded as espionage - which is a category of trouble that ordinary travel insurance does not cover.
• Do not change money outside a Cadeca. It is illegal regardless of the rate offered.

Hurricanes

• Follow civil defence instructions. Cuba's system is well organised and evacuations are real; the tourist infrastructure moves people early.