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U.S. sanctions target Cuban public hospitals to force regime change

Monday, March 30, 2026 · from 2 podcasts
The Intelligence from The…Breaking Points with Krys…
  • U.S. policy now allows fuel for private Cuban businesses while explicitly blocking it for public hospitals.
  • The blockade is a deliberate tactic to collapse public services and foment a political uprising.
  • Washington may accept a deal that liberalizes the economy while leaving the Castro political structure intact.

U.S. sanctions against Cuba have evolved from a broad embargo to a precise weapon. The goal, as articulated from Henry Kissinger to Marco Rubio, is to make the economy 'scream' until the population revolts. A policy shift under Trump now executes this by creating a two-tiered energy system: private hotels can import fuel; public hospitals cannot.

On Breaking Points, Ryan Grimm, who recently traveled to Havana, detailed this carveout. The rule, changed in February, allows foreign-operated private businesses to buy oil and diesel while continuing to block government-affiliated entities. In a country where healthcare is state-run, this means deliberate deprivation. Grimm calls the policy barbaric and argues media criticism of humanitarian delegations for staying in the only hotels legally available to Americans misses this brutal point.

Ryan Grimm, Breaking Points:

- Our American policy is that it's okay for the hotel to buy oil and diesel, but it's not okay for the hospital to buy diesel.

- It is barbaric, it's uncivilized, it's cruel, it's disgusting. There's just no world in which anybody is going to take the other side of the argument.

The economic pressure is working. The Intelligence reports the loss of Venezuelan support and the effective U.S. oil blockade has pushed Cuba past the breaking point, into a crisis worse than the 1990s. Secretary of State Rubio is leveraging this collapse to demand monetary reform and the restructuring of state enterprises.

The regime is already blinking, ceding its oil import monopoly to private businesses and signaling an opening for Miami-based exiles to invest. The emerging U.S. strategy may not demand total regime change, but rather a 'Venezuela model' of aggressive economic liberalization with the old guard remaining as a stabilizing political force.

Sarah Burke, The Intelligence:

- The Americans put on an effective oil blockade.

- The consequences have just been this cascade of dramatic things.

For Washington, the calculus is clear. By starving the public sector and fueling private enterprise, it aims to fracture Cuban society and dictate the terms of reconstruction. The young who might protest have largely fled, leaving an aging population facing a choice between managed liberalization and total collapse.

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Source Intelligence

What each podcast actually said

The Intelligence from The Economist
The Intelligence from The Economist

Hasta la victoria, quizás: Cuba’s broken economy • Mar 27

  • Cuba's economy is in a terminal state after losing subsidized oil from Venezuela, its last patron, due to Trump-era tariff threats.
  • US sanctions created an effective oil blockade, leading to a total systemic failure worse than the 1990s crisis.
  • Sarah Burke reports consequences include empty hotels, shuttered hospitals, and widespread blackouts across the island.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leveraging the fuel crisis to demand Cuba establish a credible monetary system and restructure its state enterprises.
  • The Cuban regime has blinked, ceding its monopoly on oil imports to private businesses to secure supply.
  • Washington is pushing a deal that would open the country to investment from Miami-based Cuban exiles, inviting them to buy back the island.
  • Sarah Burke says the US may accept a 'Venezuela model' where the Castro family remains in power in exchange for aggressive economic liberalization.
  • This pragmatic deal would favor American firms and Miami exiles while leaving the old guard's political influence intact.
  • The regime's choice is between controlled economic liberalization or a total, unmanaged collapse of the state.

Also from this episode:

Society (1)
  • Resistance from within Cuba is unlikely as the young people most likely to protest have already fled in record numbers.
MacroTradeRegulationMarkets
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

3/25/26: Ryan Smeared For Cuba Aid Trip, Newsom Flips On Israel Apartheid, Blackouts Imminent In US, Mortgage Rates Spike • Mar 25

  • Ryan Grimm reports the Trump administration's February rule change now allows private Cuban businesses, like foreign-operated hotels, to import oil and diesel, while continuing to block those resources from government-affiliated entities like public hospitals.
  • Grimm argues the U.S. blockade is a deliberate Cold War tactic to make Cuba's economy 'scream', a strategy he notes was articulated by Henry Kissinger and recently endorsed by Senator Marco Rubio.
  • Grimm frames mainstream media criticism of a humanitarian delegation's hotel stay as a distraction, ignoring that U.S. law bans Americans from staying at most state-linked properties, constraining their options.
  • The core tension, according to Grimm, is a U.S. sanctions regime that explicitly fuels private enterprise while starving public health infrastructure, which he calls a barbaric and morally indefensible policy.
  • Grimm contends the media focus on optics labels attendees as 'Cuba’s useless idiots' while ignoring the mechanics of the American blockade that creates the conditions of misery they claim to decry.
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