Protests Erupt in Cuba

[dann]

1) No, I haven't "pointed to the fact that the Communist Party is ruling through a parliament where 80% are party members, and the rest are vetted by the party before they can get elected."
I have pointed to the fact that Cubans don't elect parties, they elect candidates. Anybody is free to run.
2) Don't try to please anybody.
3) Yes, that's the claim you make, so tell us how exactly "it is a dictatorship" and how the "the election system shows" that you are right.

I would also like to know how the alleged dictatorship managed to get a vast majority of Cubans to vote for the new constitution. (See post 301.)
It's a thing that I as a skeptic would try to understand if I didn't know anything about the country, its government and its constitution, but it isn't something that makes people in this thread wonder, for some reason.

 

[dann]

How Do Cubans Feel About Trump’s Oil Blockade? (Belly of the Beast on YouTube, Jan 31, 2026 - 2:49 min.)
Donald Trump’s latest executive order allows the U.S. to impose additional tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba, deepening the economic siege on the island.
The result isn’t abstract policy. It’s collective punishment: blackouts, long gas lines, delayed medical care and families struggling to get through the day.
We’re in Havana asking Cubans about the new measures and about what life looks like when fuel, electricity and transportation begin to disappear.
Cuba has already been suffering increasing fuel shortages since the U.S. blocked all oil going to the island from Venezuela. In recent weeks, power outages in Havana have increased.

How to put a stop to one of Cuba's last sources of revenue: tourism!
Cuba Runs Out of Jet Fuel Amid Crippling U.S. Oil Blockade (Belly of the Beast, YouTube short - 53 sec.)
Cubans struggle with public transportation as US blockade deepens energy crisis in Cuba (AP, YouTube short - 40 sec.)

Cuba struggles as U.S. intensifies oil blockade: former ambassador (CBC News on YouTube, Feb 10, 2026 - 7:51 min.)
After U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place new sanctions on countries selling oil to Cuba, Mark Entwistle, a former Canadian ambassador to Cuba, says the Trump administration is trying to inflict pain and throttle the country's economy.
(...)
All major Canadian airlines have suspended their flights to Cuba as the island nation warns it will soon run out of jet fuel. Air Canada, WestJet, and Air Transit say they have plans to get customers home.

Collective punishment? US oil blockade strangles Cuban civilians (Al Jazeera on YouTube, Feb 11, 2026 - 2:27 min.)
The Trump administration has tightened its blockade of Cuba, threatening tariffs on countries that send oil to the island. Fuel shortages have forced universities to close, hospitals to suspend non-emergency services, and airlines to halt flights. Black market petrol prices have more than doubled, and transport costs have spiked. Students fear they may not graduate, while doctors are making difficult choices about who receives surgery. Experts in international humanitarian law say the U.S. economic measures amount to collective punishment of Cuba's civilian population.

Trump Is STARVING Cuba To Death In Display Of Pure Evil (Secular Talk on YouTube, Feb 11, 2026 - 10.19 min.)

 

[steenkh]

1) No, I haven't "pointed to the fact that the Communist Party is ruling through a parliament where 80% are party members, and the rest are vetted by the party before they can get elected."
I have pointed to the fact that Cubans don't elect parties, they elect candidates. Anybody is free to run.
2) Don't try to please anybody.
3) Yes, that's the claim you make, so tell us how exactly "it is a dictatorship" and how the "the election system shows" that you are right.

I would also like to know how the alleged dictatorship managed to get a vast majority of Cubans to vote for the new constitution. (See post 301.)
It's a thing that I as a skeptic would try to understand if I didn't know anything about the country, its government and its constitution, but it isn't something that makes people in this thread wonder, for some reason.

What do you think of the Wikipedia article about Cuba^WP? You probably think it consists of a pack of lies when it says about elections:
"Elections in Cuba are not considered democratic. In elections for the National Assembly of People's Power there is only one candidate for each seat, and candidates are nominated by committees that are firmly controlled by the Communist Party." There are footnotes with sources, but it is easier for readers to go to the article than for me to include them. You can probably try to cast the sources as biased, but I would appreciate if you could show that the Communist Party is not vetting the candidates, for instance by showing how government proposals are turned down buy opposition assembly members.

I also have difficulty imagining that the vote for the new constitution would be free and fair. Authoritarian regimes usually ensure that the results are as what the regime wants,

 

[The Atheist]

I also have difficulty imagining that the vote for the new constitution would be free and fair. Authoritarian regimes usually ensure that the results are as what the regime wants,

Well, they're getting the results Trump wants, anyway:

No water or electricity, and children begging in streets filled with rubbish – but this is why I won’t leave Cuba

Whether you blame the US or the communist regime, there is no doubt that this is an island spiralling into tragedy

www.theguardian.com

No bombs needed for Cuba to become Gaza 2.0, just starve them to death.

 

[dann]

Thread in Current Events, USA and Canada: Four shot dead on US-registered speedboat by Cuba Coastguard

 

[dann]

I wasn't sure that this one was real:

James Melville on X, Mar 6, 2026
US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth:
"Donald Trump has drawn a new strategic map from Greenland to the Gulf of America - we call this map the Greater North America.”
Off the scale hubris, delusion and ego.

With a video clip, 1.45 min.

Greater USA (Wikipedia)

However,

Remarks by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Americas Counter Cartel Conference (As Delivered) (War.gov, Mar 5, 2026)
The answer to our challenge is not to ignore our geography in the name of global interests, but to embrace our shared geography in the name of national interests. That is why President Trump has drawn a new strategic map from Greenland to the Gulf of America to the Panama Canal and its surrounding countries.
At the Department of War, we call this strategic map the Greater North America. Why? Because every sovereign nation and territory north of the Equator, from Greenland to Ecuador and from Alaska to Guyana, is not part of the "Global South." It is our immediate security perimeter in this great neighborhood that we all live in. Each one of these countries border either the North Atlantic or the North Pacific.

At least, he calls Greenland a sovereign nation:

 

[dann]

A short video (2:29 min.) about Cuba's participatory democracy:

BreakThrough News on X, June 10, 2026
Marco Rubio announced new sanctions against Cuba's state-owned oil, in order to intensify the US-imposed energy crisis.
But is Cuba as "repressive" as Marco Rubio and Trump claim? Contrary to what they say, Cuba does have regular elections — with high voter turnout.
WATCH: President Miguel Díaz-Canel explains the country's democracy, from our new film, "Cuba After Castro."
Full film here: https://patreon.com/BreakThroughNews/posts/cuba-after-in-158273979

Cuban president explains Cuban Democracy (BreakThrough News On YouTube, 2 min.)

Helen Yaffe on X, June 9, 2026
After years of calling Cuba a DICTATORSHIP, Rubio admits in the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, 4 June, that political power in #Cuba depends on consensus decision making. Cuba's system of democracy and representation is explained in my chapter:
'Cooperation, Not Competition': Democracy and Participation in Revolutionary Cuba (ResearchGate, Feb 2026)