S8 Ep673: 6. Mary Kissel examines a possible leadership transition in Cuba involving Marco Rubio and Raul Castro’s grandson. She discusses the regime’s fear following U.S. actions in Venezuela and the complexities of negotiating transitions. (6)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
6. Mary Kissel examines a possible leadership transition in Cuba involving Marco Rubio and Raul Castro’s grandson. She discusses the regime’s fear following U.S. actions in Venezuela and the complexities of negotiating transitions. (6)
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| 1:00.6 | I'm John Batch Mary Kistel, Executive Vice President Stevenson, Incorporated. |
| 1:04.4 | Importantly, I call upon Mary to think like a diplomat for me. I cannot. |
| 1:12.2 | I read too much history to spend time with Medernick. I'm always off with the people dealing with Bonaparte. |
| 1:18.5 | But in any event, Metternick was the man who had the last word of the wars of Europe in the early 19th century, and there will be a diplomat who has the last word of the wars of the early |
| 1:23.3 | 21st century. |
| 1:24.8 | We might not know his name yet, or his name might be Marco Rubio. |
| 1:29.2 | All right, Cuba. What I know is this. In these last days, the name of Castro's brothers, |
| 1:36.5 | Raul's grandson keeps coming up as a possible leader or, in effect, a crown prince, a Dauphine, for a transition away from a gangster-led |
| 1:48.3 | coalition leading the country into ruin and the future. The man supervising the negotiations |
| 1:56.1 | were told by the United States is Marco Rubio, whose parents left Cuba under Batista, I'm told, |
| 2:03.6 | prior to the Castro Revolution. But in any event, Mr. Rubio is intimately aware of the |
| 2:09.3 | tragedy of Cuba. What is to be done? What happened is that Russia sent a tanker of oil out |
| 2:16.8 | to help the regime, we can guess. |
| 2:20.0 | And after initially the White House saying no, the White House said yes, good, because the people of Cuba should not be punished for the mistakes of their dictators with guns. |
| 2:32.8 | However, the negotiation is moving in a good way, |
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