This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. President Trump says he plans on taking Cuba. We're already at war with Iran,

and the conflict has spread to over a dozen other countries in the Gulf region. Cuba is at a very

vulnerable moment. It had depended on Venezuela for fuel and supplies. But those shipments ended after the U.S. arrested Venezuelan president,

Nicholas Maduro, and then the vice president, Elsie Rodriguez, became president, and she has

complied with Trump. Cuba is bankrupt. The power grid is now being slowly repaired after it

completely failed, and that wasn't the first time Cuba was recently in

the dark. There's hardly any food or fuel, and an estimated one in five Cubans have left the

country in the last few years. Here to explain how we got to this point is John Lee Anderson. He

recently returned from a reporting trip to Cuba. He writes about Cuba in the new issue of The New Yorker where he's a staff writer.

His piece is titled, Is Cuba Next?

Trump's campaign to topple foreign adversaries encounters a battered but defiant regime.

Anderson lived in Havana for several years in the 90s, while he was researching his book about

Che Guevara, who, along with Fidel Castro, led the revolution against the U.S. back dictator,

Valencia Battista. Anderson is also the author of the 2025 book, To Lose a War, the Fall and

Rise of the Taliban. He's reported from conflict zones around the world.

We recorded our interview yesterday. Let's start with what Trump said Monday of last week

about what he might do in Cuba. You know, all my life I've been hearing about the United States

in Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I'll be the honor of having

the honor of taking Cuba. That'd be a good honor. That's a big honor. Taking Cuba.

Taking Cuba. In some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do

anything I want with it.

You want to know the truth?

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