US blockade of Cuba

[dann]

Marco Rubio: "Cuba not only has weapons they've acquired from Russia and China, but they also host Russian and Chinese intelligence presence in their country. So Cuba has always posed a national security threat to the US. They're a leading state sponsor of terror."
video in link

Corky on X, May 22, 2026
If Cuba would withdraw the 3 aircraft carrier groups and stop the blockade of the United States then tensions may be reduced.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Rep. Carlos Gimenez on 94-year-old Raul Castro: "They president can do a Maduro-like capture of a wanted individual"

video in link

 

[The Atheist]

I see Trump keeps wanking on about Rubio being Cuban and "he's from there".

He obviously wasn't born there as he ran for POTUS, but do we know if he's ever even been to Cuba?

 

[dann]

It's a simple question, so Google AI is probably reliable on this:

Yes, Marco Rubio has been to Cuba, but only once for an official visit. In May 2012, as a U.S. Senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he traveled to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay to tour the military facilities and attend military tribunal hearings.
However, he has never traveled to the rest of the island. Although his parents and grandparents emigrated from Cuba to the United States, Rubio was born in Miami and has expressed a desire to visit the island for leisure or to see his relatives' burial sites only when the country is, in his words, "truly free".

Two of the sources mentioned:

Marco Rubio Visiting Guantanamo Bay in Cuba Tuesday

Cuban-American senator from Florida visiting base in Cuba.

www.nbcmiami.com

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/10/marco-rubio-profile-213275/

 

[dann]

In case anybody still thinks the USA is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization:

Aaron Rupar on bsky, May 23, 2026
Q: Is there a role for NATO to play when it comes to Cuba?
MARCO RUBIO: NATO is far from Cuba

With a video clip, 13 sec.

 

[dann]

Particularly on X, I keep seeing claims about all (!) Cubans being oppressed by a brutal regime (sometimes consisting of just one man!) and controlled by heavily armed police and soldiers. I have never seen anybody in Cuba armed with something that comes close to what Americans have witnessed in cities patrolled by ICE.
Here's footage from another demonstration, this time against the U.S. indictment of Raúl Castro. The sentiment that I see and hear expressed by the protesters corresponds with what I've witnessed in Cuba when I was there. And they don't appear to be flanked by the national guard or something like that.
In fact, as demonstrations go, I don't see much difference between the one earlier this week in Nuuk and this one in Havana at the U.S. embassy. A notable difference is that the Cuban protest is a little better organized, and some groups have the same t-shirts, which is because they are usually organized by the unions, a little like May 1 demonstrations in Europe.

Thousands March in Havana After U.S. Indictment of Raúl Castro (Belly of the Beast on YouTube, May 23, 2026 – 2:16 min.)
Thousands of Cubans gathered at Havana’s José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune on Friday after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Cuba’s former President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shoot-down of two small planes operated by pilots of the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue.
“We had the right to defend ourselves,” said Adalgisa Durán Vargas, referring to repeated warnings Cuba made to the U.S. about repeated provocative incursions into Cuban airspace made by Brothers to the Rescue to provoke a confrontation with the Cuban government.
At the rally, speakers defended Raúl Castro’s historic role in the Cuban Revolution and questioned the legitimacy of the U.S. accusations nearly three decades after the fact.
The demonstration unfolded amid Washington’s escalating economic war on Cuba, which includes an oil blockade and sweeping extraterritorial sanctions aimed at companies from other countries.

The Real Reason Trump Is Trying to Overthrow Cuba's Government (More Perfect Union on YouTube, May 23, 2026 – 2:59 min.)

 

[dann]

The Resistance

An article about how (and not least, that) Cubans manage to survive under the current conditions:

Despite Trump’s Oil Blockade, the Quiet Resistance of Daily Life Continues in Cuba (Truthout, May 22, 2026)
People who have withstood 64 years of economic blockade won’t simply raise a white flag at the latest sign of adversity.

To the confoundment of the standard authoritarian clichés, opinions on the island aren’t uniform nor are people particularly inhibited in expressing them; quite the opposite, in fact. But to conclude that any but a tiny minority would welcome the arrival of U.S. troops requires a dangerous and delusional leap of logic. However asymmetric the situation may be, and despite the ravages of the current siege, Cuba would fight — an eventuality for which it has spent a long time preparing. “And that,” said Pedro Velázquez, another conference attendee, “is what is giving the Americans pause.”

The article mentions an incident from the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 that I had never heard about. I am sure that most Americans also never heard about it and probably never will. It's the story about ...

... the girl of the “little white shoes” whose fleeing family was hit by the strafing fire of the incoming U.S. planes.
“By the time we were getting close to Palpite, a plane started flying low,” she recalled in an interview broadcast that day. “We were waving at it because it had Cuban markings — the flag and the FAR insignias — and we thought it was a Cuban plane.”
“Then, along the road, the plane attacked the truck … It killed my mother and wounded two of my brothers — the youngest and the oldest — as well as my grandmother, who was shot in the spine and never walked again. I saw my mother’s insides — I saw her entrails. My father had to make me look, because I didn’t want to leave her.”

 

[dann]

The Resistance 2

The USA demands the extradition of Raúl Castro because of the Brothers to the Rescue plane that was shot down in 1996. Dubbed in English with subtitles in Spanish:

Así respondieron. La gente en Cuba reacciona (Cuba No Es Miami on YouTube, May 22, 2026 – 4:54 min.)
Ellos viven en otra galaxia, hablan a nombre del pueblo cubano y cada día se alejan más de la realidad y el sentir de esta isla, cada día se ganan el mayor rechazo posible de un pueblo que lucha, resiste y sufre el intento de genocidio de Washington.

Google translate:
This is how they responded. People in Cuba react (Cuba No Es Miami on YouTube, May 22, 2026 – 4:54 min.)
They live in another galaxy, they speak on behalf of the Cuban people, and every day they become more detached from the reality and feelings of this island. Every day they earn the greatest possible rejection from a people who fight, resist, and suffer Washington's attempted genocide.


From the protest at the U.S. embassy in Havana. In Spanish with subtitles in Spanish:

El video que enloqueció a Trump. Se lo dicen clarito clarito... (Cuba No Es Miami on YouTube, May 23, 2026 – 7:37 min.)
La mentira tiene patas cortas y Cuba se ha hecho especialista en desmontar patrañas. A Trump le dolió ver esto. Y los mal nacidos que apoyan todo tipo de agresión contra la isla que los vio nacer deben mirar bien este video, debene escuchar bien a ese pueblo, se los dejo ahí.

Google translate:
The video that drove Trump crazy. They tell him crystal clear... (Cuba No Es Miami on YouTube, May 23, 2026 – 7:37 min.)
Lies have short legs, and Cuba has become an expert at debunking falsehoods. It hurt Trump to see this. And those ill-bred people who support all kinds of aggression against the island that gave them birth should take a good look at this video, they should listen carefully to those people. I'll leave it at that.

 

[dann]

The aid flotilla members trust fund babies stayed at a five-star hotel and enjoyed a concert while the rest of the country experienced a blackout. Here's a video taken by an angry Cuban showing the blackout everywhere except that hotel. Can't have the Code Pinkos experiencing what life is like for ordinary Cubans,

Trump Regime is Making an Example Out of Hasan Piker to Scare Us ALL into Silence (The Humanist Report on YouTube, May 26, 2026 – 16:22 min.)
Trump’s regime is officially targeting Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink. Mind you, they’re the subjects of a federal investigation before any of Epstein’s clients. In this video we’ll discuss why they’ve been subpoenaed and argue that the particular details don’t actually matter seeing as how this is a political move intended to intimidate opponents of the Trump regime.

4:40--> But long story short, there was a rumor spread on Twitter that the people who went to Cuba, specifically on this convoy with Hassan, violated US law by staying in a hotel owned by the Cuban government that's subject to US sanctions. Now, the original attack against Hassan was that he was a socialist hypocrite for staying in a glitzy hotel in an impoverished country. But once he explained that it was one of the few hotels that he was legally allowed to stay in as a US citizen, the goalpost then shifted and right-wingers began accusing him of breaking US law by staying in an illegal hotel once they learned that that was something that American citizens couldn't do. In other words, the launching point for this fishing expedition, because that's what it is, and intimidation campaign literally centers on whether or not Hassan stayed in the correct hotel. I [ __ ] you not.

Fox News on X, May 24, 2026
Federal officials have served subpoenas to Marxist political influencer Hasan Piker and CodePink cofounder Susan Medea Benjamin as part of a wider investigation into whether U.S. organizations and leaders violated U.S. laws and sanctions in supporting Cuba's communist regime, Fox News Digital has learned.
Feds subpoena Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin over Cuba trips (Fox News, May 23, 2026)

Krystal Ball on X, May 24, 2026
Ironically it was actually @nickshirleyy who appears to have stayed in a sanctioned hotel on his trip while @hasanthehun obeyed the state dept requirements.

Eric Hovagim on X, May 24, 2026
it’s hilarious that the mouth-breathing rightoid accidentally violated US treasury rules yet they’re targeting the “scary marxist” for literally following the law.

If you fear that these left-wingers have endangered Nick Shirley by doxing him, don't worry, he's as safe as can be:

Nick Shirley (Wikipedia)
Nick Shirley (born April 4, 2002) is an American right-wing YouTuber and influencer. In December 2025, his video alleging fraud at Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota went viral.

 

[Andy_Ross]

FOX: Rubio told me that the Cuban regime poses a national security threat. He mentioned military drones….

Cuban Foreign Minister: Cuba is a small island. 10 million inhabitants. Based on what logic? What would be the common sense behind the idea that Cuba could threaten a nuclear superpower? Second, we will have to ask the secretary of state if he has any evidence. I have heard him lie on and on regarding these issues.

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

FOX: Last week as you know, the Trump administration indicted Raul Castro. Do you have concerns about the United States plotting potential regime change in Cuba? Are you prepared to defend against that militarily?

Cuban FM: We will have to ask the U.S. Government why did it wait for 30 years to do this. We will have to ask what is the legal value behind these allegations right now or if this is part of the political narrative aim at manipulating the U.S. Public opinion to testify the military aggression against Cuba

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Fox: Trump said that Cuba is a failing nation.

Cuban FM: If the Cuban economy would not be viable, what would be the use for an executive order by the president declaring a complete energy blockade against Cuba?

No consideration about the political system or the government of another country could be the reason for provoking a war or to cause a bloodbath or a humanitarian catastrophe.

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Cuban FM: Rubio was not born in Cuba. He does not know Cuba. He knows nothing about Cuba.

video in link

 

[dann]

Meet The Epstein Class Warmongers Demanding Cuba Regime Change (Secular Talk on YouTube, May 26, 2026 – 8:54 min.)

It's Kyle Kulinski's reaction to this video from More Perfect Union, also on YouTube:
The REAL Reason Trump Is Trying to Overthrow Cuba's Government (YouTube short, 3 min.)

 

[dann]

At least in Greenland, the MAGA ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ have now upped the ante, but to no avail, apparently. The Greenlanders have now been promised much, much more than the $10 worth of medicine that Rubio has offered Cubans to extradite Raúl Castro:

So there's at least one more Greenlander has signed up in addition to MAGA-paid dissident Jørgen Boassen!
It's quite an offer, $200,000 – and that is on top of the chocolate-chip cookies Jeff Landry promised their kids!

Helen Yaffe mentions it in her new article:

Cuba stands firm (Red Pepper, May 26, 2026)
In the last ten days of April, over 6.2 million Cubans, from a population of under 10 million, signed a petition repudiating the US blockade, the oil siege and threat of military attack and asserting the country’s right to peace and sovereignty. On 1st May, half a million Cubans marked international workers day with a march past the US embassy in Havana; millions more marched around the country.
(...)
On 8 May, Rubio claimed the Cuban government turned down the US offer of $100 million in humanitarian aid. Not true, replied the Cubans. Regardless, the offer is absurd given that Cuba’s humanitarian crisis is the intended result of US policies. The ‘offer’ amounts to $10 per Cuban, while Cuban losses due to the US blockade were $7.5 billion just between March 2024 and February 2025; nearly $639,000 a month.
By 2025, the cumulative cost was over $170 billion since 1962.

I also mentioned Little Narco's offer to Cubans (and Clifford Stanley's offer to Greenlanders) in post 1,744 in the thread.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Rubio: Cuba's in a lot of trouble because it's run by a bunch of incompetent communists, and being communist is bad—being an incompetent communist is like the worst

video in link

 

[Andy_Ross]

Rubio on Cuba: Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.

video in link

 

[dann]

Belly of the Beast on X, May 27, 2026
“The only attack we can imagine is a counterattack to one launched by the U.S. against Cuba”. Hal Klepak, professor at Canada's Royal Military College, says Washington is manufacturing a pretext to attack Cuba.

With a video, 1:27 min.

Also on YouTube:
Military Expert: Drones and Spy Bases in Cuba Are U.S.-Created Pretexts

Military Expert: Drones and Spy Bases in Cuba Are U.S.-Created Pretexts (Belly of the Beast, May 27, 2026)
The U.S. government is manufacturing a pretext to attack Cuba, affirmed Hal Klepak, professor emeritus of Latin American and other strategic studies in military history at the Royal Military College of Canada.
“The issue of Cuba being a threat can only be seen as a pretext to prepare U.S. opinion, or at the very least, the MAGA base, for accepting an intervention” said Klepak. “The idea that the Cubans would choose this moment to attack the United States is an absurd assertion.”

 

[EHocking]

Rubio: Cuba's in a lot of trouble because it's run by a bunch of incompetent communists, and being communist is bad—being an incompetent communist is like the worst

video in link

This is how I heard Rubio,

“Being communist is bad…”

 

[Blue Mountain]

Meet The Epstein Class Warmongers Demanding Cuba Regime Change (Secular Talk on YouTube, May 26, 2026 – 8:54 min.)

It's Kyle Kulinski's reaction to this video from More Perfect Union, also on YouTube:
The REAL Reason Trump Is Trying to Overthrow Cuba's Government (YouTube short, 3 min.)

Sigh. Can you please supply a brief summary instead of forcing everyone interested in the "real reason" to spend three minutes of their lives watching a You-◊◊◊◊◊◊◊-Tube video? My system doesn't like YouTube, so I have to spend extra time booting a system that downloads content from there without all the additional advertising and tracking ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊.

ETA: Okay, I did so. Took a total of seven minutes to get the video and watch it. Video is annoying as hell to watch and listen to, with idiot AI generated music playing in the background. And the summary? "US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio is pissed that the Cuban regime took over his family's sugar plantation and he wants it back, and wants to open the country to US business interests." I read that in seven seconds.

Please be more respectful of your fellow forum users' time and patience.