Report from Havana as Trump Threatens to "Take" Cuba & Pushes for Ouster of Cuban Leader

Mar 17, 2026 | 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."

Now that the Soviet Union no longer exists, were Ronald Reagan to be alive today, which country would he have to refer to as the “Evil Empire”? Presumably, the empire that causes most damage to property and infrastructure, the most deaths, and the most pain. And, of course, the empire which has the most despicable president leading it. — © Mark Alexander

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