Will Cuba bow to US pressure? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the BBC's Global News podcast. on YouTube. I'm Andrew Peach. Will Grant. is our correspondent in Havana. And. Will, this is a big moment for Cuba, isn't it? Under the US oil blockade, there are blackouts, all sorts of. problems in recent days. Just describe. what life has been like for us first. It's been a real challenge, Andrew. I. mean, on. the one hand, you have the blackouts, which really make life extremely. difficult for ordinary Cubans. They've.

been rolling. over the past 3 months since the. >> [music]. >> US imposed a near total oil embargo on. the island. But in in you know, in fact, that embargo has been put in place. on what was already the biggest energy. and economic crisis the island has seen. since the Cold War. So, it was really. sort of. pouring petrol onto a fire, if you like, you know, excusing the the fuel analogy.

But it you know, it really was already. in a place of crisis. And then now. there's this oil blockade. So, you have. the rolling blackouts. We saw recently. that complete island-wide blackout, complete power cut from end to end of. the island. That's the first time that's. happened since the oil blockade was put. in place. And of course, the blockade involves. preventing other nations from sending. oil to Cuba, too. So, Washington apparently has virtual.

complete control of Venezuela's oil. supply, oil production. But it has also put pressure on other. nations not to bail Cuba out. And we're. seeing that manifest itself in the. streets in a whole range of ways. The. most noticeably, of course, is the pure. lack of cars. There's just very very few. petrol cars circulating on the [music]. road. People are conserving what little. fuel they have. either for their generators or for the. most important trips that they need to.

take. Otherwise, people are on bikes, they're walking. Some [music] have electric vehicles. they're using. But the the city feels very very. switched off, very shut down, by and. large. How sustainable. is the life that you're describing now? How long could that go on for? Well, the one thing that can. >> [music]. >> never be said of the Cuban Revolution is. that it lacks. resistance and resilience. And the Cuban.

people have incredible resilience in the. face of hardship. So, there is. a sort of willingness by the Cuban. authorities to continue to sort of push. back, to show defiance in the face of. Washington's pressure. But of course, people are exhausted. As I say, it's not just the 3 months. that have been. the the critical period with the full. oil blockade. But already people were. tired with constant blackouts. Because.

it means, obviously, that when the power. comes on, if it's 2:00 in the morning, then people are getting up at 2:00 in. the morning and cooking because they. simply don't know when they might have. power back in to their homes and. therefore for electric cookers and so. on, when they might be able to. to prepare food. So, there is sort of a. sense in which many families are merely. in survival mode. They're not living, as. a as a retired nurse put it to me. recently, they're surviving.

And that is extraordinarily taxing on on. society as a whole, of course. Whether. or not it can carry on in a sustained. way. is. it's really very very difficult. One. wonders whether or not there'll be any. sort of breakthrough on the apparent. talks that are taking place between the. Trump administration and the Cuban. government. Or if, as we're seeing, a. Russian tanker with. with a 730,000.

barrels of oil actually makes it to the. island past this blockade. and provides a little bit of respite, although it's nowhere near enough to. sort of. you know, the dimensions of the crisis. that Cuba is facing. I'll come back to. President Trump in a moment. There is an. aid convoy en route to Cuba. That can't. be enough to make a a serious. difference, though, can it? You're right. It's an absolute drop in. the ocean of Cuba's need. I think what. it's intended to do and where it will be.

welcomed by the Cubans who see the. coverage of on it on state television. and so on, will be the show of. solidarity. from the sort of international. solidarity movements, supporters of Cuba from the UK, from the. United States, traveling from Mexico and. traveling from the US with this aid. But. you're right, it it doesn't even scratch. the surface of the extent of the need on. the island. We heard on the Global News podcast a. couple of days ago President Trump. saying he could take Cuba and do.

anything he wants with it. What does he. want? Well, it's incendiary language, at the. very least, isn't it? To say this when. your administration is having talks with. the Cuban government. They can't be seen. to simply. hand over the keys of Cuba to. Washington. This is 70 years almost of. resistance, 70 years of. of building a revolution. It's. predicated in large part on defiance to. Washington. So, the idea that it would.

simply buckle at this stage and do as it. would and allow the US president, the. sitting US president, to do quote. whatever he wants with the island, isn't. really going to work at this side of the. equation. Now, of course, President. Trump is known for his bombastic. language. He's known for taking an. extreme position that could be arguably. a tactic for his team to then negotiate, you know, from from that point on. And that may be what's at play here. But.

certainly, it's not going to go down. well with the Cuban authorities. And in. terms of what he wants when he says I. can do whatever I want with with the. island. I think in the very simple terms. is that he doesn't want regime change. He wants a changed regime. And what I. mean by that is if we look at the the. Venezuelan example, having removed. Nicolas Maduro from power, President. Trump seems reasonably willing to work. with Delcy Rodriguez, Nicolas Maduro's. former vice president. The relationship.

seems to be working. He's getting what. he wants out of it. And I think he would. be looking for some form of, as it were, Cuban Delcy with whom he could work here. in Havana. It's not clear who that. person would be. And for that person to. not have either the surname Castro or. associations with the Castro family. would be very very difficult, particularly if for Secretary of State. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State Marco. Rubio, he's talking about sort of wholesale.

change at the top of the Cuban. leadership and. full [music] kind of economic pivot in. terms of the way this controlled economy. works. Those are tall orders. And not. And this is not a place that does. wholesale and sweeping changes. overnight. It tends to be very glacial. [music] drip feeding of changes over. time. So, in that sense, I feel like the. two ideas really are at loggerheads. Do. you have any sense of what people in. Cuba want to happen? But of course, it.

might be a spectrum of opinion. But what. do what do people say about this kind of. thing, apart from they'd like not to. have to get up at 2:00 in the morning to. cook their dinner? It is a spectrum of opinion, but that is. really the bottom line. It's the vast. majority of people, wherever they fall. on the political spectrum in this. nation, just simply want things to get. better. They're exhausted, Andrew. They. just really want things to get back to. some degree of normalcy where they can. take their cars to the petrol pumps and. fill them up at a price that's. meaningful to them, not the price that.

is. completely out of their purchasing. power. Pensions are really just. token sum, really. They're they're. they're nominal. They. they they barely buy people a carton of. eggs each month. So, you know, that's difficult after a year. after years and years of dedication to. the cause, as it were, doing what was. asked of you. You've been a teacher, you've you've done what's been asked of. you. You've been a good citizen. And at.

the end of your life, you're essentially. left with virtually no safety net. The. health care. is in dire straits and education is not. what it once was. All of these things. that have been the pillars of the Cuban. Revolution are in deep trouble. A lot of. the frustration is still being directed. at the Cuban government, rather than the. Trump administration, despite what. Donald Trump is doing in terms of this. fuel this full fuel blockade. A final. thought about Russia. Cuba had an ally. in Russia in the form of the Soviet.

Union for a long time. Where is Russia. now? I know there's a an oil tanker. heading for Cuba under a Russian flag. But what else is going on with that. relationship? It's a difficult one, in a sense, for. Russia to to decide what to do here. It's a calculation for Putin and for. Russia whether or not it actually wants. to step up and support, yes, an old. partner, but not one that necessarily. provides the same relationship that it. did in the Cold War. This isn't [music].

the Cuban Missile Crisis. This isn't, you know, days after the Bay of Pigs. This isn't the USSR and Fidel Castro. This is a very different moment. So, given that there Moscow has its own. concerns in terms of its war on Ukraine, then it may simply make the calculation. that beyond promises of sort of. political backing, beyond this oil. tanker, which may or may not make it.

There is not much more that they're. prepared to do just 90 miles off the. coast of the US. It could of course go. the other way in the coming years, in. the coming weeks and months, and they. they decide to back Havana more strongly. and that that is that is the position. that's taken. But I think most people. look at the wording so far, look at the. kind of actions that have been taken in. the wake of the removal of Nicolas. Maduro from power in in Venezuela, the knock-on effects in Cuba, and think.

well, actually this isn't something that. Russia is going to necessarily step into. the breach of. and support Havana to the hilt. Thanks, Will. That was Will Grant, our. correspondent in Havana. For more from. the Global News Podcast, click the link. below. And from me, Andrew Peach, thanks. for being with us.