Cuba Ep. 10: Cuba after Castro w/ Abby Martin

In this episode we're joined by Abby Martin for a conversation on her film, "Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs." Abby Martin is a journalist, activist, founder of "The Empire Files," and director of the films "Gaza Fights for Freedom," "Earth's Greatest Enemy," which was the topic of our first episode with Abby, which was actually our first live show ever, and the film we'll be discussing today, which she co-directed with Matt Belen, "Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs" which features the first and only interview conducted by an American journalist with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The conversation opens with Abby explaining her connection to Cuba and why she chose to interview Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel for this film. We explore President Miguel Díaz-Canel's story and talk about the series of crises that Cuba is facing as a result of U.S. aggression—a kind of slow genocide.

We then explore parts of Abby's interview with President Díaz-Canel, beginning by situating criticisms of Cuba within the context of U.S. terror, sabotage, and invasion attempts and making sense of why Cuba's system has had to remain partially closed and on guard. We acknowledge the advances that Cuba has been able to make, despite this aggression, in terms of its democratic acheivements, its ability to navigate COVID, its robust healthcare infrastructure, etc.

We discuss the recent announcement of economic reforms in Cuba, discuss the concern about capitalist restoration, and explore why Abby believes that Cuba will make it through this latest assault by the Trump regime. We end by exploring the world that can be if we are brave and committed enough to fight for it.

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Further resources:

• Cuba after Castro: The Island in the Crosshairs
• Earth's Greatest Enemy
• Gaza Fights for Freedom

Related episodes:

• Listen to our ongoing series on Cuba
• Live Show: Breaking the Chains of Empire w/ Abby Martin (with Bonus Q&A)

Intermission music: "to each their dot" by Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia Conover

Although the episodes in our series build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone.

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