6 ms·

Cubans rendered powerless as outages persist and tensions with US escalate

88 points by petethomas 9mo ago

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
goda90 9mo ago
This really illustrates how important it is to switch to renewable energy. I know it's not an easy task for impoverished communities to get the startup capital to install solar+batteries, especially one in such a politically tumultuous position, but that really is a path to stability for so many people around the world. A YouTuber known for talking about dishwashers and Christmas lights recently put out a long rant about how ridiculous it is that humanity still leans so much on single use fuels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM
- cosmic_cheese 9mo ago
  Extensive deployment of renewables and battery storage is perhaps the best thing that can be done anywhere (even in developed countries) for making the grid more robust. Not only is there no fuel supply to be cut off, targets become too diffuse and decentralized to take out quickly, especially if you can manage to cover 30-40% of cities with rooftop solar.
  - bryanlarsen 9mo ago
    You can hit a solar plant with a missile, and it can be back in operation with a reduced capacity within a week: https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plant-partially-resumed-57910103.html https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plan...
    - pixl97 9mo ago
      Honestly I'm not sure if it would take a week in most cases, just took this long in this case. Its really not worth going after the panels with a conventional missile. Maybe something that explodes well above it and litters it with ball bearings would be far more effective.
      - toomuchtodo 9mo ago
        If you know it’s coming, you can command the panels on single axis trackers to avoid damage. This is done today for hail and hurricane risk. Panels are also rated to withstand all but the most aggressive hail.
- lstodd 9mo ago
  > At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches."
- propagandist 9mo ago
  It also illustrates the importance of not getting caught on the wrong side of the global hegemon right next door who can choke you out and prevent you from importing energy and integrating with the global economy. A lot of food for thought all around.
  - mothballed 9mo ago
    That's definitely part of the equation, but the blockade has been over for a long while. They have suffered not only the brutal effect of US colonization/hegemony but also the brutal effect of the legacy of Castro's brand of economics. If they were just suffering one or the other, they'd be significantly better off. Edit since I am throttled on posts and cannot reply below: The US briefly blockaded Cuba in the 60s, but they have only embargoed them since then. They are not blocked from international trade by the US, except with the US. There is no meaningful block from Cuba engaging in the greater international non-US "global economy" such as EU,Asia, etc.
    - user982 9mo ago
      > the blockade has been over for a long while. What are you talking about?
      - bryanlarsen 9mo ago
        The embargo was partially lifted in 2015. The article is about the effects of the re-tightening in 2025.
        user982 9mo ago
        > The embargo was partially lifted in 2015 And then reinstated in 2017. How has that been "over for a long while"?
        mothballed 9mo ago
        Put down Motorcycle Diaries long enough to learn the difference between an embargo and a blockade. And then note, blockade was the word I used.
- buckle8017 9mo ago
  Much of the developing world is close enough to the equator that solar and batteries just have to last a few days. In most developed countries solar is seasonal.
  - anonymars 9mo ago
    Solar is one type of renewable. The Nordics have done all right https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-countries-all-met-the-eus-2030-renewable-energy-target-in-2023/ https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-cou...
    - buckle8017 9mo ago
      They have small populations and so many places to install dams they have their own words for it. Nobody else can do that.
      - anonymars 9mo ago
        Yet their neighbor Denmark has similar penetration of renewables. So what's the final destination of these goalposts then so we can just skip to the end?
  - pfdietz 9mo ago
    Interestingly you don't want to be near the equator for the best solar resource, due to something called the "Intertropical Convergence Zone". This creates persistent storms and cloudiness in a band that waves up and down across the equator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone
  - lokar 9mo ago
    Peak efficiency is seasonal. Much of North America is perfectly suited for solar year round, at reduced efficiency.
- rented_mule 9mo ago
  A fascinating takeaway from that video for me... If you take the US land that is dedicated to growing corn for ethanol that is put in gasoline, and replace all the corn on that land with solar panels, how much energy would it produce? Twice today's total electrical generation in the US, from all sources. And that's in the corn belt, which is far from ideal for solar. It would be billions of panels, but it's a pretty interesting perspective on the questions about the land use requirements of solar.
  - johng 9mo ago
    Genuine question: How much energy, minerals, transportation, manufacturing, etc, etc. goes into making the panels. How much are the panels going to make back percentage wise in it's lifetime vs. the cost to make and transport, install? Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?
    - MrDrMcCoy 9mo ago
      He goes over that in the video. It's long, but very much worth watching.
    - tfyoung 9mo ago
      > Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor? At industrial scale, it has a huge petro-chemical fertiliser input.
      - pfdietz 9mo ago
        Total energy input to agriculture in the US is less than 2% of total energy consumption. So "huge" there has to be taken in context. All the energy inputs to agriculture could be replaced with non-fossil inputs. Fertilizer in particular needs hydrogen to make ammonia, but that can be produced from non-fossil sources.
  - pfdietz 9mo ago
- lokar 9mo ago
  I think of him as known for his thoughts on the “color” brown.
- NedF 9mo ago
  [dead]
breakyerself 9mo ago
[flagged]
standardUser 9mo ago
I recall visiting Cuba during the second term of Obama (shortly after his visit) and seeing the various reforms that were taking place and feeling very optimistic about the island's future. We saw a lot of highly political art on display, ate at some of the first private restaurants, watched a helicopter explode overt the ocean as they were filming a Fast and Furious film, and went to a nightclub/art show event that rivaled anything I've been to in NYC. In a sane world, we would be Cuba's largest trading partner and largest source of tourists. In that hypothetical world, the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system. Instead, we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.
- giancarlostoro 9mo ago
  In that same world we have Puerto Rico with a fragile power grid. I'm not sure what the best course of action is for Puerto Rico, I am from the Island, and there's just way too many issues on the island, the biggest thing I do know is that the old tax incentives made the island thrive drastically. There was a point in time where Puerto Rico was as high up in terms of production quality as Japan, above the US itself. A lot of pharmaceuticals come from Puerto Rico, so much so that hospitals in Florida have shortages if the Island loses power due to a major hurricane.
  - alisonatwork 9mo ago
    The power grid problems islands have is a really interesting topic. Just the other day I read an interview discussing Taiwan's energy situation[0] and even though I am familiar with the various factions and the surface level debate, it prompted me to think a bit deeper on the unique challenges islands have as marginalized geographic entities. I didn't grow up on an island so I'm not sure if people who do are more conscious of the precarity, but you'd think if they did then they would place even more emphasis on getting energy independence. It's one of those things that would be cool to study if I could go back in time and choose a different specialization... [0] https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma
giancarlostoro 9mo ago
I have a coworker from Cuba, her grandmother still lives there, this has been going on for about 2 years. She had sent her grandmother a power generator thinking she could just buy gas, but when it became apparent that they have gas shortages, she bought her grandmother a solar based one, this was several months ago if I remember correctly.
D-Machine 9mo ago
Cuba is dying and collapsing, with this kind of issue being just a part of a broader systemic set of causes. It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis. If people aren't aware of how bad it is: they haven't had reliable food and electricity for a while now, even parts of Havana and other cities look eerily like a ghost town, and it seems as if almost anyone that is able to has been fleeing. "Compared to the peak of 11.2 million inhabitants reached in 2012 – the year of the last census – Cuba has lost 13% of its population. [...] A quarter of the island's population is aged 60 and over, and it is the only demographic category that has grown in recent years" https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/cuba-faces-population-decline-and-aging-amid-mass-migration-exodus_6740756_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/c...
- einszwei 9mo ago
  The fact that percentage of older population increased is a dead giveaway that most young people are migrating (to US most likely) and more akin to exodus. A very similar pattern to Venezuela which saw a similar exodus.
- C6JEsQeQa5fCjE 9mo ago
  > It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis It is the result of crippling economic sanctions and an ongoing trade embargo by USA for 60 years now. The tragedy has a perpetrator. The humanitarian crisis is the result of actions of people who are very pleased with themselves for constructing it. Please don't use passive tone when describing humans inflicting intentional harm to other humans. Many countries in the rest of the world have shown themselves to be extremely willing to both help and trade with Cuba, but USA keeps tightening the noose and scaring them away.
mperham 9mo ago
The fossil fuel industry has stolen the bulk of Cuba’s income. Need to switch to solar and batteries to onshore your energy production. China could help here and get a big diplomatic win if they were to give Cuba subsidized access to their clean energy assets.
- onetokeoverthe 9mo ago
  [dead]
- kyboren 9mo ago
  No, the shitty regime has stolen, squandered, and prevented the vast majority of Cuba's (potential) income. They've received free oil from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia for decades. This whole crisis is because the country is horribly mismanaged and the free ride is over. Most countries have to purchase their oil at market prices. Cuba has been spared that burden yet is still worse off than the average country. IIRC both Russia and China have demanded economic reforms which are not forthcoming. The Chinese aren't stupid and they don't seem too interested in pissing their money away indefinitely on a 'partner' who ignores them.
  - pessimizer 9mo ago
    The entire crisis is because the US has been abusing Cuba since Batista fell, don't get confused. The idea that Cuba is being coddled because it isn't paying market prices when the US has been excluding it from the market for your entire life and most of your parents' lives is sadistic and cynical. You don't get to criticize the quality of someone's system until you take your foot off their neck.
    - robocat 9mo ago
      > because the US Reducing the root cause to the US is ludicrous. Cuba had agency and their government made some horrific choices for their citizens. I was there about 20 years ago and it was the most depressing place I've ever visited: the authoritarianism and corruption and tragedy was so visibly prevalent . . . even to a tourist. It was frightening because problems are usually better hidden from foreigners. Summarising a complex situation as though it has one simple cause is a human sign of ignoring complexity or systems. Yes, the impact of US political choices was deeply hideous. That doesn't excuse the Cuban government from their choices about how to deal with that.
rballpug 9mo ago
Phenomenological reduction. Cloudflare report on IPv4/IPv6 autonomous systems. AS27725 shows 96.3% byte uptime over HTTPS. Clangable. https://radar.cloudflare.com/as27725 https://radar.cloudflare.com/as27725
neves 9mo ago
A friend of mine works at SAP, the major German software company. Because they do business with American firms, he had to complete required corporate training on U.S. government restrictions regarding certain countries. The restrictions had different tiers, with only two nations placed in the most severe category: Iran and the peaceful island of Cuba.
- bpt3 9mo ago
  Your "friend" wasn't paying much attention because there are more than those two countries on the list, and you should ask the residents of Cuba exactly how peaceful their government is.
  - lokar 9mo ago
    More of less peaceful than Batista? To whom? And for whose benefit?
    - bpt3 9mo ago
      If you actually want a response, you probably should form questions as full sentences.
SilentM68 9mo ago
It would help the discussion if more historical context can be provided about the island, economy, history, business partners, before forming an opinion since most opinions tend to be a little biased: https://historical-cuba-info.pagedrop.io https://historical-cuba-info.pagedrop.io or https://archive.ph/YnWK0 https://archive.ph/YnWK0
Atlas667 9mo ago
This has been part of US plans for decades. Sanctions are warcrimes and the US has been punishing civilians and causing their death and suffering since the 60s. "...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." Secretary of State, USA, 1960. Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d499 https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06...
hulitu 9mo ago
The American empire is in its 1939 moment.

88 points by petethomas 9mo ago

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

This really illustrates how important it is to switch to renewable energy. I know it's not an easy task for impoverished communities to get the startup capital to install solar+batteries, especially one in such a politically tumultuous position, but that really is a path to stability for so many people around the world. A YouTuber known for talking about dishwashers and Christmas lights recently put out a long rant about how ridiculous it is that humanity still leans so much on single use fuels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

cosmic_cheese 9mo ago
Extensive deployment of renewables and battery storage is perhaps the best thing that can be done anywhere (even in developed countries) for making the grid more robust. Not only is there no fuel supply to be cut off, targets become too diffuse and decentralized to take out quickly, especially if you can manage to cover 30-40% of cities with rooftop solar.
- bryanlarsen 9mo ago
  You can hit a solar plant with a missile, and it can be back in operation with a reduced capacity within a week: https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plant-partially-resumed-57910103.html https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plan...
  - pixl97 9mo ago
    Honestly I'm not sure if it would take a week in most cases, just took this long in this case. Its really not worth going after the panels with a conventional missile. Maybe something that explodes well above it and litters it with ball bearings would be far more effective.
    - toomuchtodo 9mo ago
      If you know it’s coming, you can command the panels on single axis trackers to avoid damage. This is done today for hail and hurricane risk. Panels are also rated to withstand all but the most aggressive hail.
lstodd 9mo ago
> At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches."
propagandist 9mo ago
It also illustrates the importance of not getting caught on the wrong side of the global hegemon right next door who can choke you out and prevent you from importing energy and integrating with the global economy. A lot of food for thought all around.
- mothballed 9mo ago
  That's definitely part of the equation, but the blockade has been over for a long while. They have suffered not only the brutal effect of US colonization/hegemony but also the brutal effect of the legacy of Castro's brand of economics. If they were just suffering one or the other, they'd be significantly better off. Edit since I am throttled on posts and cannot reply below: The US briefly blockaded Cuba in the 60s, but they have only embargoed them since then. They are not blocked from international trade by the US, except with the US. There is no meaningful block from Cuba engaging in the greater international non-US "global economy" such as EU,Asia, etc.
  - user982 9mo ago
    > the blockade has been over for a long while. What are you talking about?
    - bryanlarsen 9mo ago
      The embargo was partially lifted in 2015. The article is about the effects of the re-tightening in 2025.
      - user982 9mo ago
        > The embargo was partially lifted in 2015 And then reinstated in 2017. How has that been "over for a long while"?
        mothballed 9mo ago
        Put down Motorcycle Diaries long enough to learn the difference between an embargo and a blockade. And then note, blockade was the word I used.
buckle8017 9mo ago
Much of the developing world is close enough to the equator that solar and batteries just have to last a few days. In most developed countries solar is seasonal.
- anonymars 9mo ago
  Solar is one type of renewable. The Nordics have done all right https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-countries-all-met-the-eus-2030-renewable-energy-target-in-2023/ https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-cou...
  - buckle8017 9mo ago
    They have small populations and so many places to install dams they have their own words for it. Nobody else can do that.
    - anonymars 9mo ago
      Yet their neighbor Denmark has similar penetration of renewables. So what's the final destination of these goalposts then so we can just skip to the end?
- pfdietz 9mo ago
  Interestingly you don't want to be near the equator for the best solar resource, due to something called the "Intertropical Convergence Zone". This creates persistent storms and cloudiness in a band that waves up and down across the equator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone
- lokar 9mo ago
  Peak efficiency is seasonal. Much of North America is perfectly suited for solar year round, at reduced efficiency.
rented_mule 9mo ago
A fascinating takeaway from that video for me... If you take the US land that is dedicated to growing corn for ethanol that is put in gasoline, and replace all the corn on that land with solar panels, how much energy would it produce? Twice today's total electrical generation in the US, from all sources. And that's in the corn belt, which is far from ideal for solar. It would be billions of panels, but it's a pretty interesting perspective on the questions about the land use requirements of solar.
- johng 9mo ago
  Genuine question: How much energy, minerals, transportation, manufacturing, etc, etc. goes into making the panels. How much are the panels going to make back percentage wise in it's lifetime vs. the cost to make and transport, install? Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?
  - MrDrMcCoy 9mo ago
    He goes over that in the video. It's long, but very much worth watching.
  - tfyoung 9mo ago
    > Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor? At industrial scale, it has a huge petro-chemical fertiliser input.
    - pfdietz 9mo ago
      Total energy input to agriculture in the US is less than 2% of total energy consumption. So "huge" there has to be taken in context. All the energy inputs to agriculture could be replaced with non-fossil inputs. Fertilizer in particular needs hydrogen to make ammonia, but that can be produced from non-fossil sources.
- pfdietz 9mo ago
lokar 9mo ago
I think of him as known for his thoughts on the “color” brown.
NedF 9mo ago
[dead]

breakyerself 9mo ago

[flagged]

standardUser 9mo ago

I recall visiting Cuba during the second term of Obama (shortly after his visit) and seeing the various reforms that were taking place and feeling very optimistic about the island's future. We saw a lot of highly political art on display, ate at some of the first private restaurants, watched a helicopter explode overt the ocean as they were filming a Fast and Furious film, and went to a nightclub/art show event that rivaled anything I've been to in NYC. In a sane world, we would be Cuba's largest trading partner and largest source of tourists. In that hypothetical world, the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system. Instead, we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.

giancarlostoro 9mo ago
In that same world we have Puerto Rico with a fragile power grid. I'm not sure what the best course of action is for Puerto Rico, I am from the Island, and there's just way too many issues on the island, the biggest thing I do know is that the old tax incentives made the island thrive drastically. There was a point in time where Puerto Rico was as high up in terms of production quality as Japan, above the US itself. A lot of pharmaceuticals come from Puerto Rico, so much so that hospitals in Florida have shortages if the Island loses power due to a major hurricane.
- alisonatwork 9mo ago
  The power grid problems islands have is a really interesting topic. Just the other day I read an interview discussing Taiwan's energy situation[0] and even though I am familiar with the various factions and the surface level debate, it prompted me to think a bit deeper on the unique challenges islands have as marginalized geographic entities. I didn't grow up on an island so I'm not sure if people who do are more conscious of the precarity, but you'd think if they did then they would place even more emphasis on getting energy independence. It's one of those things that would be cool to study if I could go back in time and choose a different specialization... [0] https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma

giancarlostoro 9mo ago

I have a coworker from Cuba, her grandmother still lives there, this has been going on for about 2 years. She had sent her grandmother a power generator thinking she could just buy gas, but when it became apparent that they have gas shortages, she bought her grandmother a solar based one, this was several months ago if I remember correctly.

D-Machine 9mo ago

Cuba is dying and collapsing, with this kind of issue being just a part of a broader systemic set of causes. It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis. If people aren't aware of how bad it is: they haven't had reliable food and electricity for a while now, even parts of Havana and other cities look eerily like a ghost town, and it seems as if almost anyone that is able to has been fleeing. "Compared to the peak of 11.2 million inhabitants reached in 2012 – the year of the last census – Cuba has lost 13% of its population. [...] A quarter of the island's population is aged 60 and over, and it is the only demographic category that has grown in recent years" https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/cuba-faces-population-decline-and-aging-amid-mass-migration-exodus_6740756_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/c...

einszwei 9mo ago
The fact that percentage of older population increased is a dead giveaway that most young people are migrating (to US most likely) and more akin to exodus. A very similar pattern to Venezuela which saw a similar exodus.
C6JEsQeQa5fCjE 9mo ago
> It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis It is the result of crippling economic sanctions and an ongoing trade embargo by USA for 60 years now. The tragedy has a perpetrator. The humanitarian crisis is the result of actions of people who are very pleased with themselves for constructing it. Please don't use passive tone when describing humans inflicting intentional harm to other humans. Many countries in the rest of the world have shown themselves to be extremely willing to both help and trade with Cuba, but USA keeps tightening the noose and scaring them away.

mperham 9mo ago

The fossil fuel industry has stolen the bulk of Cuba’s income. Need to switch to solar and batteries to onshore your energy production. China could help here and get a big diplomatic win if they were to give Cuba subsidized access to their clean energy assets.

onetokeoverthe 9mo ago
[dead]
kyboren 9mo ago
No, the shitty regime has stolen, squandered, and prevented the vast majority of Cuba's (potential) income. They've received free oil from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia for decades. This whole crisis is because the country is horribly mismanaged and the free ride is over. Most countries have to purchase their oil at market prices. Cuba has been spared that burden yet is still worse off than the average country. IIRC both Russia and China have demanded economic reforms which are not forthcoming. The Chinese aren't stupid and they don't seem too interested in pissing their money away indefinitely on a 'partner' who ignores them.
- pessimizer 9mo ago
  The entire crisis is because the US has been abusing Cuba since Batista fell, don't get confused. The idea that Cuba is being coddled because it isn't paying market prices when the US has been excluding it from the market for your entire life and most of your parents' lives is sadistic and cynical. You don't get to criticize the quality of someone's system until you take your foot off their neck.
  - robocat 9mo ago
    > because the US Reducing the root cause to the US is ludicrous. Cuba had agency and their government made some horrific choices for their citizens. I was there about 20 years ago and it was the most depressing place I've ever visited: the authoritarianism and corruption and tragedy was so visibly prevalent . . . even to a tourist. It was frightening because problems are usually better hidden from foreigners. Summarising a complex situation as though it has one simple cause is a human sign of ignoring complexity or systems. Yes, the impact of US political choices was deeply hideous. That doesn't excuse the Cuban government from their choices about how to deal with that.

rballpug 9mo ago

Phenomenological reduction. Cloudflare report on IPv4/IPv6 autonomous systems. AS27725 shows 96.3% byte uptime over HTTPS. Clangable. https://radar.cloudflare.com/as27725 https://radar.cloudflare.com/as27725

neves 9mo ago

A friend of mine works at SAP, the major German software company. Because they do business with American firms, he had to complete required corporate training on U.S. government restrictions regarding certain countries. The restrictions had different tiers, with only two nations placed in the most severe category: Iran and the peaceful island of Cuba.

bpt3 9mo ago
Your "friend" wasn't paying much attention because there are more than those two countries on the list, and you should ask the residents of Cuba exactly how peaceful their government is.
- lokar 9mo ago
  More of less peaceful than Batista? To whom? And for whose benefit?
  - bpt3 9mo ago
    If you actually want a response, you probably should form questions as full sentences.

SilentM68 9mo ago

It would help the discussion if more historical context can be provided about the island, economy, history, business partners, before forming an opinion since most opinions tend to be a little biased: https://historical-cuba-info.pagedrop.io https://historical-cuba-info.pagedrop.io or https://archive.ph/YnWK0 https://archive.ph/YnWK0

Atlas667 9mo ago

This has been part of US plans for decades. Sanctions are warcrimes and the US has been punishing civilians and causing their death and suffering since the 60s. "...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." Secretary of State, USA, 1960. Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d499 https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06...

hulitu 9mo ago

The American empire is in its 1939 moment.