This is CBS, I on the world. I'm John Bachelor. Once upon a time, the Obama

administration and then the Biden administration and then other voices in

Washington talked about engaging with Castro's Cuba, now Rao Castro's Cuba.

I learned from Mariana Stasio Grady of the America's editor and columnist at the Wall Street

Journal editorial page that also Brussels is looking to engage with Cuba and continues to engage

with Cuba with money.

Mary, a very good evening to you.

The puzzle here is Brussels reads about the embargo and makes excuses,

but Brussels must also read about the political prisoners in Cuba, and especially

about the events that you mentioned in your new column, the J-11 Cubans who are in jail.

Does Brussels respond in any fashion to that abuse of the citizens by the regime?

Good evening to you.

Well, good evening, John John. First I think we should

clarify to your listeners J11 refers to July 11th 2021 when there was this huge

spontaneous uprising across the whole island,

which made it very unique in the history of the Cuban Revolution,

where people went out into the streets and just said that they wanted freedom.

And I think it was very much triggered by a shortage of food and all the problems of the

pandemic, but at the core people were asking for liberty and this stunned the regime and it cracked down very harsh and as you know I mean this was widely publicized throughout the world.

So it's interesting to arrive at this point three years later and see that the European Union is still giving money to the Castro regime.

I mean I called the Castro regime because Raoul Castro is still alive even though he's

retired and it's still very much fashioned in the way it was during the time of Fidel Castro and Raal Castro,

...