NBC Nightly News deserves a measure of credit for being the only Elitist Media broadcast network newscast to report on the Cuban regime’s proposed economic opening: a “Cubastroika”, if you will. However, the report is plagued with so many essential omissions that one wonders why NBC even bothered.
Watch the report in its entirety, as aired on NBC Nightly News on Monday, March 16th, 2026:
This weird NBC report on the proposed "Cubastroika' is remarkable for its many omissions. Nowhere to be found within are the following words: Castro, communism, socialism, regime, protests, Communist Party, dictator, dictatorship. pic.twitter.com/4d9SSfDimx
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 17, 2026
HALLIE JACKSON: To Cuba, tonight, now descending into a blackout as conditions deteriorate. But in a rare and exclusive interview, one official says the country’s now hoping to open up more of a relationship with the U.S., even with some critics skeptical. Our George Solís has made his way to Havana, and has more.
GEORGE SOLÍS: Tonight, Cuba is in the dark. The entire electrical grid collapsing today as the country struggles with an energy crisis, leaving millions on the island without power. During this latest blackout, people have been spilling out to the streets here for hours. Fortunately, some cloud cover to keep them from this blistering heat.
It's been three months since a drop of oil has reached the country. Highways are empty because there’s no gas. Women are delivering babies in dark hospitals with no electricity. Conditions are deteriorating. I sat down exclusively with Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez Oliva Fraga, considered by many to be Cuba’s economic czar. His plan- to attract more foreign investors, including large companies from the United States.
OSCAR PEREZ OLIVA FRAGA (In Spanish): Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship…
SOLÍS: He said Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies, with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.
This person tells me it would be a breath of fresh air. And while there are people in the United States who legally do business with Cuba, Washington's trade embargo restricts many companies from doing authorized business there.
Today, President Trump was asked about taking Cuba?...
DONALD TRUMP: Taking Cuba. I mean…whether I free it, take it- I think I can do anything I want with it.
SOLÍS: What a relationship would look like, though, remains to be seen, particularly since Congress has to vote, and many in Congress are skeptical.
CARLOS GIMENEZ: I would ask and advise any Cuban that lives here, or any Cuban in exile: Please. Don't invest in Cuba, you're wasting your time.
SOLÍS: Today, Cuban-American activists in Miami came together to send a message.
SALOME GARCÍA: We don't have any change in political rights. If we don't have political guarantees, there’s no economic change that’s possible.
AGUSTÍN GARCÍA: Freedom is to be able to choose your destiny. It's about Cuban sovereignty. Not about business.
SOLÍS: And tonight, those Cubans plunged into darkness will come here along Havana’s iconic seawall, to not only cool off but escape the reality of the situation. Hallie.
JACKSON: George Solís in Cuba. Thanks.
Missing from the report are the following words, and let me know if you spot a trend here: Castro, dictator, dictatorship, communism, Communist Party, socialism, regime, and protests. And about the protests: Solís mentions people “spilling out into the streets for hours” due to the blackout, as if they just went on a casual stroll, with only the clanging of pots and pans as a hint. But, in fact, there were protests, and they got spicy. From the weekend:
Tonight, Cubans set the Communist Party headquarters in Morón on fire — hours after dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel said there would be no political change in Cuba. pic.twitter.com/M4xAFPRf9A
— ADNCuba - Noticias de Cuba (@CubaAdn) March 14, 2026
Protests are expected to increase, both in scale and intensity, after the islandwide blackout. The weekend protests were much more than the usual cacerolazo depicted in Solís’s item.
It bears noting that the Cuban “economic czar” Oscar Pérez Oliva Fraga is a grand-nephew of the Castro Brothers, and that there are already whispers of his being “Cuba’s Delcy”, a person that could theoretically step in and take over the regime apparatus upon removal of current Castroite puppet Miguel Díaz Canel. None of that made it into the report, either.
In fairness, the report DID include a disclosure of the limits imposed upon such an opening by the Helms-Burton Act, and several opposing soundbites from the Cuban exile community, including from Miami Congressman Carlos Giménez. But overall, the report seems to have little purpose beyond providing PR for a moribund regime.
