US-Cuba talks: What to find out about Trump’s Cuba ambitions

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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration isn’t letting up the strain on Cuba.

What’s occurring? After months of threats from the Trump administration, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel mentioned on Friday that his authorities was holding talks with the US to seek out “options” to more and more dire situations on the island.

It’s unclear what would possibly come out of these talks, however it’s the most recent signal the Trump administration is severe about following via on its latest rhetoric.

Why Cuba? That is an ideological venture for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Earlier this week, the Atlantic’s Vivian Salama told Vox that Rubio had made it a “lifelong mission” to topple Cuba’s Communist regime.

It’s additionally an unsurprising extension of the so-called “Donroe Doctrine” — an assertion of US regional hegemony, backed by navy power — that President Donald Trump proclaimed after US forces efficiently captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

What’s the context? Cuba has been in a tough spot for years; in 2024, it skilled a nationwide blackout after its electrical grid collapsed — an issue that has recurred since then. However since January, a de facto US blockade has made situations far worse, choking off all gas to the island already affected by economic crisis .

On the time, Trump posted on Fact Social that “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly recommend they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

What’s the massive image? US-Cuba talks don’t imply the potential of extra drastic motion is off the desk. For instance, the US and Iran had been nonetheless engaged in nuclear negotiations when the conflict started final month. Salama, of the Atlantic, also told Vox that some Trump officers backing navy motion consider it’s “like ripping off a Band-Help. You get them finished rapidly as a one-two-three punch.”

Regardless of the US does, situations inside Cuba could imply occasions come to a head sooner fairly than later.

And with that, it’s time to log out…

Winter could also be on its method out, however it nonetheless snowed in Washington, DC, on Thursday, so which means I can share this episode from Vox’s Unexplainable podcast all about how snow kinds and its varied cool properties (plus some snow mysteries we nonetheless don’t know the solutions to).