Since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an executive order in January threatening tariffs on any country that ships fuel to Cuba, major media outlets have descended on the island to report on the resulting prolonged blackouts, collapsing hospitals, and piles of uncollected trash.
Far less attention has been paid to the rationale the administration offered for imposing the blockade in the first place.More...
The executive order states that Cuba represents a “national emergency” and poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, stringing together a kitchen-sink list of familiar allegations, including accusations that Cuba sponsors terrorism and aligns itself with “dangerous adversaries” of the United States, such as Iran, Hamas, Russia, and China.
More specifically, the order claims that “Cuba hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States.”