Why experts say Cuba's current crisis might finally be the one that topples the regime after 60 years.
Frenchie Robles and Michael Crowley report on a deliberate U.S. foreign policy campaign targeting Cuba by cutting off its primary energy supply. Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro has been the principal supplier of oil to Cuba for decades, a relationship that has kept the Cuban economy from full collapse despite the U.S. embargo. The Trump administration, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as its most vocal architect, negotiated with Maduro to sever that oil flow as part of a broader deal involving Venezuelan political concessions. With the Venezuelan supply cut, U.S. officials then issued a warning to any other country considering shipping oil to Cuba: doing so would trigger punishing tariffs. Mexico, which had been a secondary supplier, halted its shipments in response to the tariff threat. Cuba now has no reliable external energy source. The reporters describe rolling blackouts lasting up to twenty hours a day in Havana, fuel shortages that have paralyzed transportation, and food supply disruptions tied to the inability to power refrigeration and distribution infrastructure. Cuban officials have issued statements framing the crisis in terms of U.S. aggression; U.S. officials frame it as pressure for democratic reform. Rubio's personal history is examined in detail: he is the son of Cuban exiles who left after Batista's fall, and toppling the Castro government has been a stated political priority throughout his career. The reporters describe him as the driving force behind the Cuba strategy within the administration and note that the approach has received support from Cuban exile communities in Florida. The episode closes with a segment on Robert Duvall, who died at age 95, featuring a brief career retrospective.
