#1782 Cuba's Crisis: Trump's Deadly Embargo, Blackouts, and Dream of Regime Change
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 187 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date: 4/3/2026
Today we examine how decades of U.S. policy toward Cuba set the stage for the current crisis, we explore the human cost of the U.S. oil blockade on Cuba's 11 million people, and how the U.S. justifies an illegal siege while claiming to act in Cuba's interest using time-tested propaganda tactics.
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TOP TAKES
KP 1: Explainer 509 Is Cuba Next on Trumps Hit List - The Foreign Desk - Air Date 3-18-26
KP 3: Will President Trump Act on His Threat to Take Cuba Part 1 - Fresh Air - Air Date 3-24-26
KP 4: Current Affairs Is Going to Cuba Part 1 - Current Affairs - Air Date 3-21-26
(00:49:58) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
The Word "Sanctions" Is Hiding a Blockade — US Propaganda Hides Human Rights Abuses in Cuba
DEEPER DIVES
(01:00:46) SECTION A: HISTORY
(01:35:03) SECTION B: CURRENT CRISIS
(02:20:27) SECTION C: SOLIDARITY
SHOW IMAGE CREDITS
Description: Composite image of the Cuban flag with the shadow of the United State of America over it.
Credit: Internal design. Component images from Pixabay
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Love podcast. Today we examine how decades of U.S. policy toward Cuba set the stage for the current crisis. We explore the human cost of the U.S. oil blockade on Cuba's 11 million people and how the U.S. justifies any legal siege while claiming to act in Cuba's |
| 0:23.1 | interest using time-tested propaganda tactics. For those looking for a quick overview, |
| 0:28.9 | the sources providing our top takes in about 50 minutes today include The Foreign Desk, |
| 0:33.7 | the Mark Steiner show, fresh air, current affairs, left reckoning, and the majority report. Then, in the additional deeper dives have ofiner show, Fresh Air, Current Affairs, Left Reckoning, and The Majority Report. |
| 0:39.5 | Then, in the additional deeper dives have of the show, there will be more in three sections. |
| 0:43.9 | Section A, History, Section B, Current Crisis, and Section C, Solidarity. |
| 0:50.0 | But first, a reminder to check out our new show solved on the Best of Left YouTube channel. |
| 0:54.8 | We're really proud of the show we're making and think you'll get real value out of it. |
| 0:58.3 | Plus, you checking it out will help us find new viewers on YouTube. |
| 1:01.8 | So thanks in advance for all of your views, lights, subscribes, and comments. |
| 1:05.7 | That's all on the Best of Left YouTube channel, linked in the show notes. |
| 1:09.4 | And now, on to the show. |
| 1:12.9 | Early in the United States and Israel's current war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump |
| 1:22.3 | sought to head off speculation about the width of his attention span by reassuring that he wouldn't get bored |
| 1:28.7 | with the conflict. Somebody said today, they said, oh, well, if the president wants to do it really |
| 1:33.5 | quickly after that, he'll get bored. I don't get bored. There's nothing boring about this. |
| 1:38.4 | President Trump, however, has never been a one-thing-at-a-time kind of guy. Sixty-six seconds |
| 1:43.8 | after issuing that declaration, |
| 1:45.6 | he was discussing the White House curtains. I picked those drapes in my first term. I always like |
| 1:51.6 | gold, but I think we can save a lot of money. I just saved curtains. This week, more seriously |
| 1:58.5 | and or ominously, and despite the ongoing operations in the Persian Gulf and the disputable success thereof, Trump has been sizing up his next conquest. |
| 2:08.0 | For lucky country, is Cuba. |
... |
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