The Perennial 'Crisis' and the Convenient Enemy
CASE A: The Current Narrative – Cuba's 'Critical' Fuel Situation The Al Jazeera report frames Cuba's fuel crisis and Russian warnings within the context of recent US sanctions, highlighting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla's accusation that Washington seeks to 'break the political will' of Cubans. Apparently, the 'tactic' is making life difficult enough for a population to turn
against its leadership. Curious, that. The article quotes Rodríguez Parrilla: "The United States is applying cruel and inhuman measures with the explicit objective of generating ungovernability and instability in the country." It also notes the re-designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Trump administration in 2021 as a key factor exacerbating the economic strain. CASE B: The
Parallel Narrative – US Sanctions, Elsewhere Now, let's contrast this with how similar 'tactics' are framed when applied by the US to, say, Venezuela's Maduro government. In that instance, the sanctions apparatus – which has demonstrably crippled the Venezuelan oil industry and contributed to widespread shortages of food and medicine (Council on Foreign Relations, 2019 report citing CEPR data
showing 40,000 deaths from 2017-2018 due to sanctions) – is routinely spun by mainstream outlets as a legitimate tool to 'pressure an authoritarian regime' (e.g., *New York Times*, 2019). One might wonder why generating 'ungovernability and instability' is a 'cruel and inhuman measure' in Havana, but a 'legitimate tool' in Caracas. THE FRAMING: A Question of Legitimacy The language is revealing.