Is Cuba Next?

President Donald Trump has insisted that he will have the “honor of taking Cuba.” Although the administration has not specified what that might mean, following interventions in Venezuela and Iran over the past six months, there is reason to take seriously the possibility of some kind of forceful U.S. action, including military action. Already, a combination of U.S. pressure and the Cuban government’s own failures has resulted in unrelentingly dire conditions on the island—leading many to expect some kind of break before long.

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In recent weeks, two of the sharpest observers of Cuba and U.S. policy toward Cuba have written essays in Foreign Affairs on the choices facing policymakers in both Havana and Washington. Michael Bustamante is chair of Cuba and Cuban-American studies at the University of Miami. And Ricardo Zuniga is a longtime U.S. official who served at the embassy in Havana and helped lead the secret talks that brought the Obama administration’s opening to Cuba. Dan Kurtz-Phelan spoke with Bustamante and Zuniga on June 8 about what U.S. policymakers could and should do in the coming weeks and months—and what those decisions will mean for Cuba’s future.

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Sources:

“Cuba’s Only Choice” by Michael J. Bustamante and Ricardo Herrero

“The Day After in Cuba” by Ricardo Zuniga

“Cuba on the Brink” by Michael J. Bustamante

This episode of The Foreign Affairs Interview was produced by Elise Burr and Kanishk Tharoor, with audio engineering by Christopher Koch and Markus Zakaria and original music by Robin Hilton. Special thanks to Irina Hogan.

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