Natalie Kitroeff

It's Tuesday, February 17th.

Frenchie, it's wonderful to have you here on The Daily.

So I think it's fair to say you are the New York Times' Cuba whisperer.

You've been covering Cuba for how long?

Decades?

Wow.

So you obviously have seen this country go through crisis after crisis in that time.

But I think there is something about this moment that feels different, at least for me looking at what's playing out on the island.

Does that feel right to you?

And what's unsustainable about it?

What are the people that you're talking to saying?

The standoff between the two countries is raising fears over a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Right.

You're saying basically that a corner has been turned in Cuba.

After years and years of suffering, there may be a kind of change coming.

And what we understand from your reporting and from, honestly, the public statements of the administration is that this crisis that Cuba is facing now is intentional.

It's the result of a carefully planned policy, right, by the Trump administration.

Can you just lay out for me why?

Why has the U.S.

been so dead set on toppling the regime in Cuba?