Since its revolution in 1959, led by Fidel Castro, Cuba has found itself at odds with the United States. Just 90 miles off its coastline, the American government has positioned the island Caribbean nation as an existential threat to freedom and democracy in the Western Hemisphere.
Throughout the decades, the United States has implemented economic sanctions, a state-sponsored invasion, engaged in biological and psychological warfare, labeled Cuba a "state sponsor of terrorism," and attacked civilians all to undermine and encourage an overthrow of the Cuban government.
However, with the second Trump administration kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, and the killing of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, President Donald Trump has shown that he will take more direct, violent action against America's enemies. He has hinted numerous times that "Cuba is next," and with Cuban-American Marco Rubio in his ear as Secretary of State, and a crucial voting bloc to please, many are concerned that he will take drastic action against Cuba as well.
That's where journalists Abby Martin and Matthew Belen come in. Both Martin and Belen have a history with Cuba, having covered the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the creation of their very own vaccine. However, this time, with the alternative news outlet BreakThrough News, Martin and Belen became the first American journalists to be granted an interview with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
When asked about how the interview came about, Belen said, "It was very touch and go as far as the level of access we were going to get; we were told we can have an interview with the president. That in and of itself was absolutely huge because he had never done an interview this extensive with a US-based media outlet before."
However, the interview with the Cuban leader was recorded before the second Trump administration ramped up its aggressive pursuit of "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere," dubbed the "Donroe Doctrine," and they found themselves seeing their upcoming documentary, "Cuba After Castro," having even more resonance than expected.
"We certainly went into this project not expecting how extreme the Trump administration's policies would ratchet up," Martin told The Latin Times. She added, "[We] certainly did not expect this resurrection of the 'Donroe Doctrine,' the 'Operation Total Extermination' on the heels of pulverizing Iran...to hear... this flippant, constant threat that Cuba's next. It's ours for the taking. I hope that the resonance of this documentary's urgency is crystallizing and kind of cutting through the propaganda that has led us to this point."
"Cuba After Castro" is split into two parts. The first part covers the Cuban Revolution and its story since then, along with Díaz-Canel's title as the first non-Castro to lead Cuba since 1959. The second part covers the challenges his government has faced from Cuba's designation as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism" by the United States and the Patria y Vida protests in the summer of 2021.
Martin and Belen also sought to address some of the long-running criticisms of the Communist Party's governance. In the interview, conducted by Martin in Havana, she asked the Cuban leader about the arrests made of the Patria y Vida protesters, to which Díaz-Canel responded that no one was arrested unlawfully.
When asked if they were satisfied with his response, Martin replied, "I definitely see where he was coming from, but whether or not that was satisfactory, I think people can make up their own minds." However, she said she felt that the government's response to the protests was "exaggerated." She also added that it was "hypocritical" to impose these standards on Cuba when "the two biggest allies to Western powers" are Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Martin also said she wanted to bring these matters up in the interview to address "the precursor of why this policy is imposed on Cuba, right? Political prisoners. The wanton arrests is what we're told, the lack of democratic freedom and free press. These are the pillars that I wanted to confront Díaz-Canel on. And I think that he explained and contextualized them in a really crucial way for us to understand why these things happen and why the country's set up the way it is."
A core belief that Díaz-Canel, Martin, and Belen have all expressed to a certain extent is that the media is being dishonest in their reporting surrounding Cuba. Martin said, "There was such a small contingent of people out in the streets that you had Fox News even artificially imposing a fake reality, right? That pro-government protests were actually the anti-government protesters. So there's so much propaganda to dispel."
A YouGov poll conducted in March found that more than half of Americans surveyed opposed using military force to impose regime change in Cuba. However, 65% of Americans polled in a Gallup survey in February said they had an unfavorable opinion of Cuba.
When asked what they want the average American to take away from their documentary, Belen replied, "I really hope anybody watching this film could walk away with a better understanding of... the economic and historical context... It's easy to go walk down the street in Havana and look at, look at a derelict building or a big pothole or something and be like, 'oh, look at how this evil, socialist dictatorship is just sucking all the life out of this beautiful country,' or whatever. But it's very easy to come to a position like that when... you're not aware of the fact that there's been a 60-plus-year unilateral blockade imposed on Cuba that the United Nations has been voting against almost unanimously for the last 30 years."
"Cuba After Castro" is set to premiere in New York on April 16th before being uploaded to YouTube on April 30th. You can watch the trailer here.
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