US blockade of Cuba

[dann]

Luis de Jesús on X, July 16, 2026
Not even the blackouts have prevented many Cubans from following the events of the #MundialFútbol2026
An example of how this afternoon's match between #Argentina and #Inglaterra was experienced at the Teatro Yara in Havana.
Amid the problems with electricity, the authorities have arranged places like this one so that the population can watch the games.

With a video from inside Teatro Yara, a cinema across the street from Hotel Havana Libre and within walking distance of the embassy. I think I know which team the Cubans were rooting for – despite Javier Milei.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez
@RepCarlos

Thank you, @SecRubio! The regime in #Cuba is a national security threat to the United States and must be relegated to the ash heap of history.

President Trump’s & your leadership have been key to pressuring the regime more than ever before. Cuba is next!

Who will save the United States from the terrifying threat of an all-out Cuban invasion?

 

[dann]

Gosh. Imagine; a government that prioritised its own desire for control over the basic wellbeing of the Cuban people. Tut.

Andy Ross usually includes links to the tweets he copies from X. They are always interesting because of the replies.
This one, for instance:

Medea Benjamin on X, June 23, 2026
You are a monster, making life more and more miserable for the Cuban people with your sanctions. A policy that counts its success by the rising infant mortality rate is simply evil.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Thanks. Not having an X account I am not allowed to look at the replies.

 

[dann]

Ambassador Mike Waltz
@USAmbUN
If there’s no money in Cuba for fuel or food or medicine, how is there fuel for the Castro private family jet? How does the Cuban president afford his Hermes ties and Montblanc pens? How do the Castros maintain their 17 homes?
video in link

Ambassador Mike Waltz
@USAmbUN
“There’s a lot of talk today of an embargo. And indeed there is one. It’s the embargo the Cuban regime mercilessly imposes on its own people decade after decade after decade.”
video in link

Bruno Rodríguez at the UN:

Belly of the Beast on X, July 10, 2026
Cuba’s FM Bruno Rodríguez confronted U.S. Amb. Mike Waltz at the UN on Tuesday, after Waltz accused Cuba of human rights abuses, holding photos of people detained and killed by ICE.
“This did not happen in Cuba,” said Rodriguez.

With a short video, 1:23 min.

Also on YouTube:
Cuba Calls Out Mike Waltz at the UN With ICE Photos (Belly of the Beast on YouTube, July 10, 2026 – 1:23 min.)

Some people may call what Bruno Rodríguez does whataboutism, but they should consider why the USA makes it so damn easy for him. Also, how do you prove a negative?
Unlike Mike Waltz, Rodríguez has the receipts!

 

[dann]

Thanks. Not having an X account I am not allowed to look at the replies.

How is Bluesky in this respect?
Post from the Havana 'syndrome' thread.
These are the replies, but is it possible to see what I reply to?

 

[Planigale]

There actually is no money in Cuba for fuel or medicine, but if there were, there would still be the U.S. fuel blockade.
How come Mike Waltz includes a video of himself talking? How come he doesn't include a video of the alleged "Castro private family jet" taking off? How come he doesn't show footage of the Cuban president with Hermes ties and Montblanc pens? How come he doesn't include a link to Google Earth pinpointing the 17 Castro homes?



Contrast Hermes ties and Montblanc pens with this:
Trump unveils Qatari luxury jet for Air Force One fleet (BBC, June 20, 2026)
I suspect that pens and ties are stuff that leaders of state may give to each other when they meet. They're at a level where they can't be suspected of being bribes.
Luxury jets, however ...

Only US politicians are allowed to be rich whilst people starve!

 

[Andy_Ross]

Andy Ross usually includes links to the tweets he copies from X. They are always interesting because of the replies.
This one, for instance:

I sometimes forget

 

[Jack by the hedge]

How is Bluesky in this respect?
Post from the Havana 'syndrome' thread.
These are the replies, but is it possible to see what I reply to?

On Bluesky I can see the original post and also the replies.

 

[Andy_Ross]

It depends on what the poster's settings are.

 

[Stout]

Thanks. Not having an X account I am not allowed to look at the replies.

Use XCancel (Nitter)

For an individual tweet, simply replace the x(dot)com with xcancel(dot)com

Example

https://xcancel.com/USAmbUN/status/2074595184705204683

This should be standard operating procedure for those trying to avoid the alt-right fascist owned X and once you get used to using Nitter, you'll never have to log into X again...unless you want to Xweet, like a fascist.

Next up...a way to use your adblocker to wipe out that annoying Log In To Facebook To Continue thing that limits the amount of yacht ads you can view on marketplace.

Online Instagram viewers? I got u fam.

Oh Cuba... They can just call their big commie buddy China for help. They'll be over with freighter loads of wind, solar and ebikes in a jiff.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Oh Cuba... They can just call their big commie buddy China for help. They'll be over with freighter loads of wind, solar and ebikes in a jiff.

And Venezuela too, when Cuba isn't sending aid there instead. These leftist dictatorships are all one big happy family.

 

[dann]

The collective punishment of the Cuban people is wrong (Representative Pramila Jayapal on YouTube, July 18, 2026 – 2:50 min.)
I have met with dissidents, the president, and people from across the political spectrum in Cuba.Everyone agrees that the collective punishment of the Cuban people is wrong. The US must lift the embargo, allow fuel into Cuba, and build a relationship that benefits all of us.

Pramila Jayapal: Are you aware of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits collective punishment? It's a yes or no question.
Caleb Orr: The collective punishment is being imposed by the Cuba regime.
Pramila Jayapal: So do you know what is the definition of collective punishment? Do you know? In the Geneva Convention.
Caleb Orr: The Cuban regime is the one that is punishing ...
Pramila Jayapal: What is the definition? Obviously, you don't know, so let me tell you what it is: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed."
And Mr. Orr, that is exactly what this embargo is intended to be. It's a form of collective punishment. Ahead of the United States placing its embargo on Cuba in 1962, a classified State Department memo stated that the goals of broad-based U.S. sanctions should be to, quote, "deny money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, and bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of the government."
We are 60 years later now, and none of the goals that you are talking about have been realized. What has been realized is the Cuban people have been essentially destroyed. Infant mortality up, no food, no water, no medical supplies. Since the imposition of the embargo on Cuba, has Cuba held fully democratic elections?
Caleb Orr: The Cuban people have been deprived the access to democracy.
Pramila Jayapal: So the answer is no. Have they ceased the detention of political prisoners? The answer is no. So, Mr. Orr, maybe it is time for the United States to think about another way of addressing the policy goals that we have, other than punishing the entire Cuban people.
That is what I saw. I don't know if you have been there recently. I was there just a few months ago. I could not believe what I saw. And I've got to tell you, Mr. Orr, the American people are incredibly generous. To create that kind of collective punishment on a nation of 9 million people that is just 90 mile south of the border, I think Americans would be horrified. I think they would be absolutely horrified that young, premature babies in maternity hospitals cannot get an incubator, can't get a ventilator. Doctors and nurses are holdning up cell phones and using the light of their cell phones as they perform major surgeries.
This is not the way to go about diplomacy. There should be a negotiated agreement between the United States and the Cuban government. And I have met with dissidents. I have met with the president. I have met with people across the political spectrum. What everyone agrees on is that the collective of the Cuban people is wrong, and the United States should lift the embargo, allow fuel to get to Cuba, and we should make sure that we actually invest in a relationship that helps the American people.

I always find it touching when Americans think that they have "fully democratic elections" and that Cubans don't, but in the context it works excellently as an argument against Orr.

 

[dann]

Cuba's assault on the USA
(Yes, they actually claim that! Assault!!! And the children, what about the children?! Yes, Cuba is allegedly targeting them, too!)

Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism (U.S. Department of State, July 20, 2026)
Cuba’s assault on the United States was never, at root, a quarrel over economic policy or sovereignty or even ownership of a particular territory. It was a revolution against Western civilization itself — waged, in part, via the novel and insidious method of persuading the children of the West to turn against their own inheritance.

Kyle Kulinski has made a video about it:
Trump TARGETS HASAN PIKER & DSA With New TERROR BLACKLIST!!! (Secular Talk on YouTube, July 23, 2026 – 12:46 min.)

0:47–> It's about as dumb as it gets. Don't be fooled. This is the State Department trying to build the foundational case for US military action should Trump decide to do it. That's ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ terrifying. They're actually arguing with a straight face: 'We need this terror blacklist that includes Hassan Piker and Amy Goodman because Cuba is going to conquer us or try to conquer.'
I'm sorry. Even MAGA can't believe this! Even Republicans can't believe this. Are they the one starving us or are we the ones starving them? Are they the one embargoing us or are we the one embargoing them? What are we talking about?
(...)
6:00–> And I'm sorry, thatt's just not true. Everybody who's defending Cuba is defending it on its merits that it's being illegally assaulted by the US ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ pedophile terror regime.

After "Political Terrorism" Summit, U.S. Names 43 Americans + Groups (Ken Kllppenstein on Substack, July 20, 2026)
Rubio report on Cuban subversion names Zohran Mamdani, Amy Goodman, Hasan Piker + orgs like DSA and Amazon Labor Union

One of the names on the list is none other than:

• Floyd, George: A Minneapolis man whose 2020 death sparked nationwide uprisings that the report notes were praised by Cuba.

Because ... the police killed him, I guess.
Jeff Bezos, the infamous Trump (and Melania) donor will no doubt be happy to see this name the list:

• Amazon Labor Union: A labor union founded by Christian Smalls that participated in the 2026 Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba.

Marco Rubio on X, July 20, 2026
For more than six decades, the Cuban regime has been the leading sponsor of radical leftism and Third Worldism in the United States.
The State Department is exposing the full history of Cuban espionage and subversion in our country.
The American people deserve to know.

David Adler on X, July 20, 2026
This document is a bone-chilling signal that the new McCarthy era has already begun.
But it is all the more bone-chilling to see that the entire report was 100% written by Claude.
We are asked to prepare for a lethal LLM-powered Red Scare. What a dreadful time to be alive.

The replies to David Adler's tweet look like they could have been written by Stormfront.

 

[dann]

Excellent interview with journalist Abby Martin:

Sadistic And Depraved’ - Journalist Who’s Visited Cuba Describes U.S. Policy (Zeteo on YouTube, July 23, 2026 – 25:47 min.)
Donald Trump is not just threatening war against Cuba, but his sanctions against the island nation are having severe and deadly consequences. Its power grid is collapsing and Cuba’s most vulnerable are dying. After a visit from CIA Director John Ratcliffe in May, it is making sweeping economic changes that journalist Abby Martin says could raise inequality. In the midst of this crisis, Martin became the first U.S. journalist to interview Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel, as part of a provocative documentary entitled ‘Cuba After Castro.’
Martin’s documentary tells the untold story of the Cuban people. “Death is the policy. Mass murder is the policy that has been stated for decades to make the Cuban people suffer and overthrow their government.”
This in-depth conversation on the consequences of U.S. foreign policy goes beyond Cuba, as Mehdi and Martin also discuss her previous documentaries, centered around Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. Mehdi asks Martin about occupied Gaza, Israel, Marco Rubio and MORE.
00:00 Intro
01:26 ‘Cuba After Castro’
03:21 Misinformed
06:45 Invasion / Marco Rubio
10:49 Free and Fair Elections
14:00 Reforms
18:00 Gaza

8:04–> And so Marco Rubio as well as all the the the Miami lobby want to attach themselves to drive home their agenda. They've been salivating at the chance to overthrow the quote unquote 'Cuban regime' for decades. But as we both know, Marco Rubio's never even stepped foot in the island.
All of this exists in the lore of his parents and grandparents about what, you know, what dystopia exists in Cuba.
What they want to do is actually impose an actual military dictatorship akin to Pinochet. So they could actually impose their will against the will of the Cubans.

Abby Martin's experiences with Cubans is much the same as my own:

15:30–> I've been on the ground in Cuba several times. I have never once encountered a Cuban who seems scared to voice critique against the Cuban government. Even Cuban leadership, people in the party are very free to criticize the Cuban leadership, and they have very robust dialogue about how to better Cuba. But I have never heard a Cuban actually say, 'Yes, this is what they want. They just want the US to come in and run rough shop over their economy.'

It becomes apparent that Martin knows much more about Cuba than Mehdi Hassan, who seems to buy into the Western media's stories about jailed journalists and protesters. There is no doubt that people who have been at protests have been jailed. That happens in the USA, too, and it has also been known to happen in my own country. There is also no doubt that journalists have been jailed. Journalists are jailed in the USA and Denmark, too.

However, that protesters and journalists are jailed in Cuba for being protesters and/or journalists is a common misconception – eagerly spread by Western media. That's also not why they are jailed in Denmark. It's because journalists and protesters may also commit crimes much like all other professions or walks of life, e.g. stalking or sexual abuse of children. (And if Danes could be jailed for being paid influence agents for foreign hostile governments, more Danes would probably be in jail, but the USA hasn't had too much success with its endeavors in this respect since it became a hostile power.)

 

[dann]

I mentioned this in post 109 and again in post 139:

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 [who] 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!

Now it has happened:

Arturo Dominguez on X, July 22, 2026
This is a whopping $10 per person on the island. Meanwhile, the damage being done by sanctions and the oil embargo is astronomical.

The Department of State on X, July 22, 2026
Earlier today, Senior State Department officials joined @CatholicRelief to send off the first flight of humanitarian aid following @SecRubio's historic commitment of $100 million in humanitarian assistance directly to the Cuban people.

Deep State David on X, July 22, 2026
Cuba wouldn’t need aid if the United States wasn’t blocking trade to the island

Summerwind on X, July 22, 2026
The United States compromises Cuba in every form and then swoops in disguised as a hero. What is it
@SecRubio, kill 10 and save 2?

Theodora on X, July 22, 2026
Rubio is the one starving the Cuban people & now makes a 'historic commitment' of slightly more than $10/person. Should Cubans fall to their knees in gratitude? Not likely; Cubans are not gullible.
US sanctions have cost the Cuban economy BILLIONS every year.
Abajo el Bloqueo

 

[dann]

Interview with Professor Isaac Saney on the US State Department's anti-Cuba report (Cuba Analysis on YouTube, July 26, 2026 – 1h20m)
Interview with Professor Isaac Saney on the US State Department's anti-Cuba report and its implications.
In this episode of the Cuba Analysis Podcast, co-hosts Helen Yaffe and Nina Blodau speak with Professor Isaac Saney, a Black Studies and Cuba specialist, historian, professor at Dalhousie University, author of two books about Cuba, and spokesperson for the Canadian Network on Cuba, which is among many groups named in the new US State Department report ‘Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism’.

Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism (The Department of State, pdf)

 

[Planigale]

Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism (The Department of State, pdf)

Presumably straight from Havana!

(sarcasm)

 

[dudalb]

I think the US should drop the blockade and all sanctions against Cuba. and one reason is that I want to take that excuse away from the Castroite regime for their miserable failure.

 

[dudalb]

Thw US policy is toward Cuba is iditoic, but so are the rose colored glasses that some insist on wearing when viewing the Cuban regime.