Checks and Balance: Cuba libre?

Checks and Balance from The Economist

The Economist

Politics, News & Politics, News, Us Politics

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Biden administration has announced new sanctions against Cuba, as the communist regime cracks down on the biggest protests in decades. How might the president's pledge to support democracy around the world play out in Cuba?

Miami political consultant Fernand Amandi says liberating Cuba has political rewards. We look back at how Fidel Castro scored an early propaganda victory against America on a visit to New York. And technology writer Antonio García Martínez warns the rapid opening of Cuba to the internet will cause more disruption.

John Prideaux hosts with Roseann Lake and Jon Fasman.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Dena Stars is a young YouTuber.
0:04.3	Until last week, her posts were fairly standard, moodily lit candid confessions about her
0:09.0	rocky relationships.
0:11.1	She has 70,000 followers on Instagram, no big deal by American standards, but in Cuba
0:16.4	she's an influencer.
0:19.0	Last week she was talking live on Spanish TV when the security services knocked on her
0:23.0	door.
0:24.0	I hold the government responsible for anything that happens to me, she said, before breaking
0:28.4	off the interview.
0:30.2	Dena had been uploading videos of anti-government protests on her social media channels using
0:34.8	the hashtag SOSCuba.
0:37.6	Two days past before she posted on Instagram again, I've just come in through my front
0:42.0	door, she said, I'm fine.
0:45.1	Cuba's repressive regime has frozen time, but now it appears to be facing a reckoning,
0:50.5	one that's being live streamed.
0:52.2	I'm on the side of truth, Dena says.
0:55.2	Joe Biden would no doubt agree.
0:57.6	How should he respond to the Cuban uprising?
1:01.1	This is Chex and Balance.
1:07.4	I'm John Prado, the economist's US editor.
1:09.8	Each week we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore it in depth.
1:16.4	Today, how can the US best help Cuba?
	...

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