David Remnick

You can read John Lee Anderson on Cuba at newyorker.com.

And you can subscribe to The New Yorker there as well, newyorker.com.

In a moment, I'll be joined by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of Cuba, Ada Ferrer.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour.

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour.

I'm David Remnick.

We're talking today about the United States and Cuba and the Trump administration's threats lately of a takeover there.

Trump would certainly not be the first president to intervene in Cuba.

America's troubled relationship with the island goes back centuries.

To get a clearer view of the relationship, I spoke with a historian, Ada Ferrer, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2022 book, Cuba, An American History.

Ferrer herself left Cuba as a small child, coming to the United States with her mother back in 1963, when Castro's regime was arguably at its peak.

I spoke with Ada Ferrer this week about what a military campaign would mean to Cubans.

and to the large Cuban-American population in Florida and beyond.

So, Ada, Donald Trump said this about his intentions toward Cuba.

It may be a friendly takeover.

It may not be a friendly takeover.

It wouldn't matter because they're down to, as they say, fumes.

That's what President Trump has said.

How do you react to a statement like that?

John Lee Anderson was just there for us and is about to publish a piece about what he saw and what he heard.