Cuba’s Electrical Grid Has Collapsed as Trump Threatens to “Take” the Island |
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Cuba’s electrical grid has collapsed. The island-wide blackout comes amid a harsh U.S. oil blockade and recent comments from President Donald Trump that he wants to “take” Cuba. No oil shipments have reached the country, located just south of Florida, in three months, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by decades of severe U.S. sanctions. “Sanctions are literally killing people right now,” says Cuban journalist Daniel Montero, speaking from Havana. “We understand what this oil embargo means, and [what] sanctions have always meant. This is regime change through starvation.” Historian Sara Kozameh, who recently returned from Cuba, adds, “Cubans have fought for sovereignty many, many times. And they’re not going to just sort of lie there while this is happening.”
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
Cuba plunged into an island-wide blackout, leaving millions of people without power after the national electricity grid completely collapsed Monday. This was at least the third and the largest blackout to hit Cuba in just about four months, as the U.S. energy blockade has cut off the island from accessing desperately needed fuel. No oil shipments have reached Cuba in more than three months, according to the Cuban government, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by decades of U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Monday, Trump’s negotiators told their Cuban counterparts during recent talks that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel must be removed from power. President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House Monday.
Trump’s Cruelty Is Strangling Cuba — Its Oil Reserves Could Be Empty by March
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do believe I’ll be the honor of — having the honor of taking Cuba. That’d be a good honor. It’s a big honor. REPORTER: Taking Cuba? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Taking Cuba in some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I do believe I’ll be the honor of — having the honor of taking Cuba. That’d be a good honor. It’s a big honor.
REPORTER: Taking Cuba?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Taking Cuba in some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth.
AMY GOODMAN: “Whether I free it, take it” or “can do anything I want with it,” President Trump said.
For more, we’re joined by two guests. In Havana, we go to Daniel Montero, Cuban journalist and producer with Belly of the Beast, an independent media outlet covering the impact of U.S. sanctions on Cuba. And in San Diego, California, we go to Sara Kozameh, assistant professor in history at University of California, San Diego, who’s just returned from Cuba, her recent piece for The Guardian headlined “In the other US target of regime change, Cuba, I saw real hardship — and resilience.”
But, Daniel, let’s turn to you right now in Cuba. Talk about this largest blackout that we have seen, what it means for the people, what it means for Cuba and what’s happening.
DANIEL MONTERO: Yeah. Thank you for having me.
I mean, what’s really heartbreaking about this, this latest blackouts that we have, is that at this point, you know, for our daily lives, it doesn’t feel any — you know, that much different from normal days. What I’m trying to say is, because no fuel is coming in, I mean, blackouts have extended significantly over the past few months. You know, right now in Havana, which usually fares a lot better than the rest of the country, we’re talking about at least 12 hours a day. You go to the provinces, like, you know, outside of the city, where my family lives, they’re getting by with three, four or five hours a day. So, of course, a national blackout has tremendous impact throughout, but what I’m trying to convey is that because blackouts have extended so much due to the oil blockade, it doesn’t feel that........