Cuba on the Brink, US Finds New Ways to Sanction Them (Again)
As the AP breathlessly reports on Cuba's impending collapse, spurred by U.S. tanker seizures and the (alleged, future) capture of former President Nicolás Maduro, one might wonder: 'Why is Cuba always in such a bad way?' The article mentions 'decades' of crisis, yet somehow misses the elephant in the Caribbean: the ongoing, multifaceted U.S. embargo. For over 60 years, U.S. policy has
systematically worked to choke the Cuban economy. Think a 'sudden halt' in oil is bad? Try comprehensive sanctions that limit everything from medical supplies to international banking. The 1996 Helms-Burton Act, for example, codified these extraterritorial restrictions, punishing foreign companies that do business with Cuba. So, while AP finds a 16-year-old Cuban student 'thinking about leaving,'
it conveniently bypasses the documented legislative efforts by successive U.S. administrations to make conditions so dire that young people *have* to think about leaving. Blaming Venezuela's oil shipments for Cuba's misery is like blaming a broken leg on the crutch, after you've already shot them in the knee.