Jon Lee Anderson

You have the president, Diaz-Canel, who seems a little bit undercut by these other figures around him.

He periodically comes out and he says things.

But he's very much the spokesman of this government, which is something of a

Family affair.

So I would imagine that it could well be someone like Perez Oliva, who is the grandnephew of Fidel and Raul Castro.

He's seen by some as a possible candidate to replace Diaz-Canel.

That could be a sticking point with the Miami Cuban lobby, who insists that there be no Castro campaign.

family member in the new Cuba.

But let's see, those same people, the hardline Republicans, MAGA people, have gone along with, by all appearances, what's gone down in Venezuela because Trump, you know, has made it so.

And it's possible that they would go along with whatever he dictates for Cuba as well.

Well, a massive role.

Venezuela has been the, in a sense, replaced the Soviet Union, which collapsed, which had been the sponsor of Cuba, subsidized Cuba for 35 years.

And when it imploded...

Cuba went through a precipitous crash of its economy in the early to mid-90s.

And when Chavez, the late Hugo Chavez, won office and became a kind of acolyte to Fidel Castro, the two in the late 90s signed a contract.

essentially oil for expertise deal, a kind of barter deal, whereby Venezuela, this oil-rich country, massively oil-rich, would provide Cuba's oil needs, fuel needs, in return for medical brigades, sports instructors, and of course there was a security contingent as well.

That was more secretive, but it was always there.

We all knew it, that there was a kind of security agreement.

And Cuban intelligence and military people came and helped advise the Venezuelans.

And that persisted through the Chavez years.