The latest chapter in the decades-long tradition of the news media blaming the U.S. for Communist Cuba’s problems was written on Friday’s CNN This Morning when host Audie Cornish and New York Times writer and podcaster Lulu Garcia-Navarro tried to blame President Trump’s seizing of Cuba-bound Venezuelan oil tankers for the country’s ever-increasing economic disaster.
The conversation occurred as Washington is trying to ascertain what exactly happened when Cuba shot a speedboat off its coast that included at least one American death. Nobody at the table believed that the incident was an American government-sanctioned operation, but Garcia-Navarro declared that the Cuban government will try to spin it to portray themselves as a nation under siege. That led Cornish to wonder, “Right. As the people there are suffering under the blockade. Right?”
Audie Cornish with the latest installment in the long-running media series that blames the U.S. for Cuba's problems, "As the people there are suffering under the blockade. Right?" New York Times writer and podcaster Lula Garcia-Navarro adds, "This oil blockade is, as always… pic.twitter.com/CgYAWE1Ql3
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 27, 2026
Garcia-Navarro agreed, “And that is the biggest issue that I think isn't getting enough attention. This oil blockade is, as always happens, really hitting the civilian population of Cuba. It is really hurting people there. There's a lack of medicine. There is, you know, [no] electricity, food. And so, what you are seeing is the regime, as always, is insulated. The people themselves are suffering.”
Cornish then turned to former CIA operative Rick de la Torre, “And I know you've always said, Rick, that, you know, the communists there sort of blame their economic collapse on the U.S. But to Lulu's point, the U.S. is putting pressure. It has stepped up a level of pressure, and there is a consequence to that stepped-up level of pressure for the Cuban people.”
De la Torre was the segment’s voice of reason because he declared, “Yeah, correct. But the blame lies with the Cuban regime. Yeah. The United States is increasing its pressure on the Cuban regime. You know—”
However, Cornish was not convinced, “You have Canada saying that there's a humanitarian crisis and that they're going to be sending support.”
De la Torre held firm, “Our economic policy regarding Cuba is similar to our economic policy with other terrorist nations. If someone wants to deal with Cuba, any country out there wants to deal with Cuba, and many have decided not to over the years, because Cuba doesn't pay its bills. They're more than happy to do so, right? You know, we're not helping.”
To De la Torre’s point, the first tanker seizure was on December 10, 2025. Exactly three months prior to that, the British socialist newspaper, The Guardian, ran the headline: “Cuba hit with fifth blackout in less than a year with 10m people in the dark.” On July 1, 2021—nearly three-and-a-half years before Trump would become president again—The Economist observed, “Cuba is facing its worst shortage of food since the 1990s," with the subheading reading, “Government bungling and a shortage of dollars are to blame.”
One could go on. However, Garcia-Navarro wanted to reiterate Trump’s role in the situation while trying to argue this isn’t about whether or not one is sympathizing with the communist regime, “This is a huge escalation. I mean, listen, I'm Cuban-American. I'm—you know, I'm not going to be celebrating the Castro regime here.”
That may sound nice, but Garcia-Navarro previously said that getting a kiss from Ramon Castro on behalf of Raul and Fidel “was kind of like getting the blessing of the Holy Trinity.”
Here is a transcript for the February 27 show:
CNN This Morning
2/27/2026
6:26 AM ET
AUDIE CORNISH: Right. As the people there are suffering under the blockade. Right?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that is the biggest issue that I think isn't getting enough attention. This oil blockade is, as always happens, really hitting the civilian population of Cuba. It is really hurting people there. There's a lack of medicine. There is, you know, electricity, food. And so, what you are seeing is the regime, as always, is insulated. The people themselves are suffering.
CORNISH: And I know you've always said, Rick, that, you know, the communists there sort of blame their economic collapse on the U.S. But to Lulu's point, the U.S. is putting pressure. It has stepped up a level of pressure, and there is a consequence to that stepped-up level of pressure for the Cuban people.
RICK DE LA TORRE: Yeah, correct. But the blame lies with the Cuban regime. Yeah. The United States is increasing its pressure on the Cuban regime. You know—
CORNISH: You have Canada saying that there's a humanitarian crisis and that they're going to be sending support.
RICK DE LA TORRE: Our economic policy regarding Cuba is similar to our economic policy with other terrorist nations. If someone wants to deal with Cuba, any country out there wants to deal with Cuba, and many have decided not to over the years, because Cuba doesn't pay its bills. They're more than happy to do so, right? You know, we're not helping.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is a huge escalation. I mean, listen, I'm Cuban-American. I'm—you know, I'm not going to be celebrating the Castro regime here.
