ABC News Discovers Cuba's Grid Fails, Forgetting US Embargo
Massive power outages in Cuba's western region are, according to ABC News, due to a 'transmission line failure.' (A truly groundbreaking geopolitical analysis, one might observe.) This framing, of course, entirely ignores the 60+ year U.S. economic blockade—the longest in modern history—which explicitly aims to prevent Cuba from acquiring spare parts, maintaining essential infrastructure, or
trading freely for energy. The embargo, codified in numerous acts including the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, directly impacts Cuba's ability to maintain its energy grid, yet this crucial context is perpetually absent from such reports. One might wonder if ABC News would report on a car breaking down in Detroit without mentioning the engine had been deliberately removed by government policy. Or, perhaps,
whether independent nations are simply supposed to materialize sophisticated electrical grid components out of thin air when subjected to an economic stranglehold. It's almost as if the 'free press' prefers narrative simplicity over inconvenient truths that might implicate U.S. foreign policy.