Hasta la victoria, quizás: Cuba’s broken economy
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Even before America crimped Cuba’s oil, the country was teetering. We ask what is to blame for the Cuban people’s plight, and whether anything better is in prospect. The craze of injecting peptides is not only scientifically unsupported—it is potentially dangerous. Chuck Norris once got mad at dinosaurs. Just once. Our obituaries editor recounts his unlikely rise to international manly stardom.
Guests and host:
- Sarah Birke, Central America and Caribbean bureau chief
- Natasha Loder, health editor
- Tim Cross, senior science writer
- Ann Wroe, obituaries editor
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Cuba, Trump administration
- peptides, wellness, pseudoscience
- Chuck Norris
Get a world of insights by subscribing to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:15.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:30.7 | On certain corners of the wellness internet, you'll see all manner of claims made about peptides. |
| 0:36.0 | Simply buy them and inject them, and you'll be stronger, better, faster with a glossier coat. |
| 0:40.3 | We pick through the flimsy science behind a weird cottage industry. |
| 0:46.9 | And did you know that Chuck Norris used to season his meat with pepper spray? |
| 0:52.3 | Our obituaries editor looks back on a poor boy from Oklahoma who couldn't speak very well, |
| 0:55.6 | who became a totem for all that is manly and the subject of endless goofy gags. |
| 1:01.4 | But first... |
| 1:06.6 | America's daring raid in January to nab Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela didn't just have big implications for that country. |
| 1:17.6 | It was the last remaining patron of Cuba, a destination for lots of its oil. |
| 1:23.6 | Since that lifeline was cut off, Cuba has been sputtering closer and closer to a full stop, |
| 1:29.3 | which is exactly where Hawks in the Trump administration, principally Secretary of State |
| 1:34.1 | Marco Rubio, want it to be. |
| 1:36.3 | They don't get subsidies anymore, so they're in a lot of trouble. |
| 1:38.3 | And the people in charge are, they don't know how to fix it. |
| 1:41.3 | So they have to get new people in charge. |
| 1:43.3 | Cuba's people have long deserved a better run government and economy. |
| 1:47.4 | Question is whether that's what they might get. |
| 1:50.5 | Life in Cuba was already hard before the Americans intervened in Venezuela. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Economist, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Economist and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.