Jon Lee Anderson

Chavez and Fidel formed this, Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan wannabe, really acolyte of Fidel Castro.

And they did this oil for expertise deal.

So, you know, Venezuelan oil that began, this was 25 years ago, for Cuban expertise in everything from

you know, doctors to teachers to sports instructors, and of course, intelligence and military security guys.

And that's what's ended with Maduro.

So comparing that period of the early 90s following the Soviet implosion to the period now, there are differences, but also many similarities.

These long blackouts, for instance, just yesterday, the national grid collapsed for the umpteenth time in Cuba.

I don't know exactly, but sometimes back in, I think it was October of last year, it went on for almost a week.

You can't get gasoline for love or money.

And some people with dollars on the black market find ways, of course.

But basically, there is no fuel.

They haven't received any in three months.

So that's disappearing.

The package, as I understand it, that the Americans want...

start with a sweetener.

That is to say, you open up economically to investors, be nice to private enterprise, which will help you anyway, and will allow us to sort of invest and da-da-da, and make money, and we will start to allow fuel in.

Or it might even be, we will sell you the Venezuelan fuel you used to get for free, and then you'll owe us.

So the point, what they're trying to do is basically make

Cuba, a dependency of the United States, in the same way that Venezuela is now a neo-dependency.

And this new imperialism has Trump's name all over it.