“They would like to see the island strangled, asphyxiated. That's actually the language used to me some months back by Carlos Jimenez, Republican congressman from Miami, who talked about a kind of shock therapy.”
John Lee Anderson
0:31Cuba is collapsing — up to 20% of its population has fled, the power grid has failed, doctors are pushing wheelchairs in Miami instead of treating patients, and Venezuelan fuel shipments that kept the country alive ended when the U.S. arrested Nicolás Maduro. New Yorker staff writer John Lee Anderson, fresh from a January reporting trip to Havana, reveals that secret negotiations between Rubio and Castro family members are already underway, while Trump's public threats of "taking Cuba" are actively hardening the nationalist resistance he'd need to overcome. For any professional tracking U.S. foreign policy or geopolitical risk, Anderson's ground-level reporting — combined with his hard-won lessons about why American regime change fails — makes this a rare, clear-eyed briefing on a crisis that could escalate fast.
Terry Gross introduces the topic of Cuba's current vulnerable state, its economic collapse, and Trump's comments. She then introduces guest John Lee Anderson and his reporting.
“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.”
This opening statement highlights a perceived aggressive US foreign policy across multiple fronts, setting a tone of global instability and potential intervention.
“Cuba is bankrupt. The power grid is now being slowly repaired after it completely failed, and there's hardly any food or fuel, and an estimated one in five Cubans have left the country in the last few years.”
This quote paints a stark picture of a nation in deep crisis, serving as a powerful example of economic collapse and its human cost.
“I do believe I'll be the honor of having the honor of taking Cuba. That'd be good honor. That's a big honor. Taking Cuba. Taking Cuba in some form, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it. They're a very weakened nation right now.”
This quote from a former US President expresses a controversial and potentially aggressive foreign policy stance, suggesting unilateral action against a sovereign nation.