Brad and Desi are out today dealing with technical gremlins, so it’s NICOLE SANDLER, back in to guest host the BradCast today. [Audio link to today’s show is posted below.]
As you may be aware, I live in South Florida. For the past week or so, the people of Cuba have taken to the streets in protest for the first time since 1994. They’re out in the streets of Miami too.
Down here, we deal with the realities of Cuba regularly, but the rest of the country not so much. So I thought today would be a good time to just get a primer on where things stand on the island that sits 90 miles from the southernmost tip of Florida.
ANTHONY DEPALMA was a reporter and foreign correspondent for the NY Times for 22 years. He continues to write for the Times and other publications while writing books, a number of which have been about Cuba. His latest is The Cubans: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times.
Last week, he penned an op-ed for the Washington Post, “As in 1994, Cubans Protest Against a Regime’s Mortal Threat”. He gave us a brief background of the island’s history, and told us a bit about the new ruler — the first non-Castro to rule the nation since the Castros took power some 60 years ago.
DePalma stressed the fact that the US embargoes and the policy against allowing Cubans to send money to family members still on the island has added to the misery of the people there.
Now, with news of horrific crackdowns by the government on the protesters, the Biden administration today announced a new round of sanctions against those Biden says are “responsible for the oppression of the Cuban people.”
As usual, we began with the latest news– COVID is surging, the Olympics are officially starting tomorrow, and Joe Biden held a CNN Town Hall last night, where his answers about the future of the filibuster were less than satisfying.
And Desi Doyen left us with a particularly dark Green News Report. Enjoy!…
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