Cuba on the brink.
Tangle
Isaac Saul
4.7 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Monday, Cuba’s electrical grid failed, causing a blackout that affected the island’s nearly 11 million inhabitants. Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed that it was investigating a complete disconnect of the island’s grid, which sparked both violent and non-violent protests. After 29 hours, power was restored to most of the island, although much of the country remains without service as of Wednesday morning. Cuba has been experiencing worsened power disruptions since the United States increased its economic pressure on the island. On January 11, President Donald Trump announced he would prevent Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba, then announced heightened tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba on January 29.
Ad-free podcasts are here!
To listen to this podcast ad-free, and to enjoy our subscriber only premium content, go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!
Stranded in the Middle East.
When the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February, airspaces shut down and commercial flights were cancelled across the region. For Americans in the Middle East, the following days were marked by chaotic attempts to evacuate and inconsistent communication from U.S. embassies. Associate Producer Aidan Gorman has experienced embassy evacuations firsthand, and in our latest YouTube video he breaks down what happened, what should have happened, and the stark realities of evacuation policies. Check it out here:
Join us on Reddit!
Over the past year, our community on Reddit has been growing — as have the discussions about our coverage. In the past month, threads titled “Under-discussed Topics around Iran War,” “The State of the Union was bad, but not for why Tangle thinks,” and “Justice for Isaac’s lost right socks” have garnered a lot of participation. If you want to start a discussion on a specific issue, a broad theme with our coverage or anything to do with the Tangle podcast, join our Reddit community at r/TangleNews!
You can read today's podcast here, our “Under the Radar” story here and today’s “Have a nice day” story here.
You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here.
Take the survey: What do you think of the current situation in Cuba? Let us know.
Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.
This podcast was written by: Isaac Saul and audio edited and mixed by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.
Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. |
| 0:08.4 | Good morning, good afternoon and good evening and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, a place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. |
| 0:28.3 | I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about the latest in Cuba, President Donald Trump, talking about taking it in some manner. |
| 0:38.4 | I'm going to break down some views from the left and the right and some perspectives from Cuba and Cuban writers. |
| 0:45.4 | And then, as always, I'm going to share my take. |
| 0:48.3 | Before we jump into today's main story, though, quick heads up that we just published a new YouTube video about people who are stranded |
| 0:56.8 | in the Middle East. For Americans in the Middle East right now, the following days after our |
| 1:02.3 | strikes in Iran and February were marked with chaotic attempts to evacuate an inconsistent |
| 1:07.9 | communication from U.S. embassies. Our associate producer on the YouTube channel, Aidan Gorman, has experienced embassy evacuations firsthand, |
| 1:16.1 | and in our latest YouTube video, he breaks down what happened, what should have happened, |
| 1:20.5 | and the stark realities of evacuation policies. |
| 1:23.6 | The video is linked in today's episode description. |
| 1:26.0 | It's also up on our YouTube channel, |
| 1:27.8 | which you can find by looking up Tangle News on YouTube. |
| 1:32.0 | And of course, don't forget to subscribe. |
| 1:34.2 | All right, here with me today on the podcast to break down our main story on Cuba |
| 1:37.5 | is Associate Editor Audrey Moorhead. |
| 1:39.5 | I'm going to pass it over to Audrey for the main story, |
| 1:42.0 | and I'll be back for my take. |
| 1:50.4 | Music to pass it over to Audrey for the main story, and I'll be back for my take. Thanks, Isaac. Let's start with today's quick hits. Number one, the Israeli military said it |
| 1:57.0 | killed Ali Larajani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, |
| 2:01.9 | and Golam Reza Soleimani, commander of the Basij Paramilitary Group in air strikes. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Isaac Saul, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Isaac Saul and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.