The Cuban government employs most of the country's workers and runs the hospitals and schools.
asserted
government → employ → hospitals
For decades, a U.S. embargo cut the island off from American trade.
asserted
embargo → cut → trade
Now the Trump administration has tightened that vice, strangling its oil supply and threatening to sanction those who do business with the Cuban regime, making it nearly impossible for the government to buy fuel, food or medicine.
asserted
government → tighten → fuel
Washington says the failure is Havana's: a corrupt communist regime that has mismanaged the country for decades.
asserted
that → say → decades
Havana blames Washington, saying the sanctions are designed to turn Cuba into a failed state.
asserted
sanctions → blame → state
The Trump administration wants Havana to know there are, quote, "no escape valves."
asserted
Havana → want → ?
It has even threatened to take Cuba.
asserted
It → threaten → Cuba
Each side blames the other.
asserted
side → blame → other
Caught between them are more than 9 million Cubans.
asserted
Cubans → catch → them
Last month we traveled there and found a country in freefall.
asserted
we → travel → freefall
In Cuba today, the basics have become luxuries: pharmacy shelves are bare, lines for bread stretch around the block, and during daily blackouts, most of the country disappears into darkness.
Cuba's crisis has been decades in the making.
asserted
crisis → become → making
Its leaders have jailed critics, limited free speech and Washington says the regime has hoarded billions of dollars, but Havana's government blames the U.S.
Carlos Fernández de Cossío:
asserted
government → jail → U.S.
The United States has no legitimacy to what they're claiming.
asserted
they → have → what
They just have brutal power against the whole population of another country.
asserted
They → have → country
How are the restrictions imposed earlier this year different from the embargo that has been in place effectively for over 60 years?
asserted
that → impose → years
They've become much tougher which means now the U.S. threatens with punishment, with coercive measures or sanctions, countries and their companies that engage commercially with Cuba.
asserted
that → become → Cuba
The streets are dark in Old Havana where it used to be glittering and light at night.
asserted
it → use → night
People tell me on the street that they are hungry.
asserted
they → tell → street
Does it feel like this country is falling apart?
asserted
country → feel → ?
It's not falling apart, but it's suffering the pain.
asserted
it → fall → pain
When the U.S. captured Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, Cuba lost its main oil supplier.
asserted
Cuba → capture → supplier
On the day we visited the William Soler Hospital, we saw this infant being rushed into the intensive care unit.
asserted
infant → visit → unit
Dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition, he was barely responsive.
asserted
he → suffer → malnutrition
That means his life is in immediate danger.
asserted
life → mean → danger
He could die at any moment.
uncertain
He → die → moment
He and his team cleared the baby's airways and just in case he stopped breathing, prepared a ventilator.
asserted
he → clear → ventilator
He weighed less than five pounds.
asserted
He → weigh → pounds
He had no name and no family.
asserted
He → have → name
We were told he was abandoned and brought in by protective services.
asserted
he → tell → services
But stabilizing him was only the first step.
asserted
stabilizing → stabilize → him
Dr. Alejandro Chong (In Spanish/English translation): After this, he'll need nutritional support, which is where things get more difficult for us.
asserted
things → need → us
In other parts of the world, patients like this are given specialized formulas, many of which come from the United States.
asserted
many → give → States
We have to make do with formulas made from malanga, a starchy root vegetable, and chicken.
asserted
We → have → malanga
Doctors in Cuba make compromises like that on every shift.
asserted
Doctors → make → shift
Just 90 miles from the U.S., Cuba has always imported much of what it needs — now the U.S. restrictions are making it harder to import food and medical supplies.
asserted
it → import → food
Washington says it does not intend to restrict those goods but many foreign companies, fearful of U.S. penalties, won't sell them to Cuba.
asserted
companies → say → Cuba
Cuba's problems long predate the Trump administration's new sanctions.
asserted
problems → predate → sanctions
For decades, the U.S. says the regime mismanaged Cuba's economy and let its infrastructure crumble.
asserted
infrastructure → say → economy
But since early January, Cuban officials say, only a single tanker of oil has reached the island, crippling the country's electrical grid.
asserted
tanker → say → grid
We're in the pediatric ER right now and, as so often happens here in Cuba now, the electricity just turned off and this is that interim period — between when the electricity turns off and the generator turns on – these are the critical moments here.
asserted
these → happen → Cuba
…and 74 more, not listed.
The Aporia
