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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration does not allow pressure on Cuba.
What is happening? After months of threats from the Trump administration, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday that his government was in talks with the United States to find “solutions” to the worsening situation on the island.
It’s unclear what might come of the talks, but it’s the latest sign that the Trump administration intends to follow through on its latest words.
Why Cuba? This is an ideological project for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Earlier this week, The Atlantic’s Vivian Salama told Vox that Rubio had made it a “permanent mission” to topple Cuba’s Communist regime.
It is also an unsurprising extension of the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” — an assertion of U.S. regional hegemony, backed by the military — that President Donald Trump announced after U.S. forces arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
What is the context? Cuba has been in a difficult situation for many years; in 2024, it got a power outages across the country after its power grid collapsed – a problem that has recurred ever since. But since January, the US blockade has made the situation worse, shutting down all the oil on the island that is already suffering from economic crisis.
At the time, Trump posted on Truth Social that “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL NOR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I highly recommend they make a deal, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.”
what is the main picture? US-Cuba talks do not mean the possibility of taking more drastic measures is off the table. For example, the US and Iran were still engaged in nuclear talks when the war broke out last month. Safe, Atlantic, he also told Vox that some Trump officials who support military action believe it is “like ripping off a Band-Aid. You do it as quickly as a one-two-three punch.”
Whatever the US does, the situation inside Cuba could mean events come to a head sooner rather than later.
And so, it’s time to leave…
Winter may be upon us, but it still snowed in Washington, DC, on Thursday, so I can share this period from Vox It is indescribable a podcast all about how snow is formed and its many wonderful properties (including several snow mysteries we still don’t know the answers to).
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!
