Natalie Kitroeff

So near total isolation.

And you're saying Fidel Castro actually encouraged this.

He said, please leave.

These boats can go wherever you want them to.

Don't stay here.

In just thinking about the history that you've sketched out here, it feels like at every turn, the U.S.

thought that it was creating the conditions that would internally, you know, force people to rise up inside of Cuba, that it would force change from within by creating this pressure cooker.

But...

The Cuban regime responded to that by saying, well, it's not a pressure cooker if we have a valve and that valve is sending people to the United States, basically exporting the people who are most likely to push for change from within.

So back in Cuba, the regime has survived this special period, but they've lost their biggest benefactor in the Soviet Union.

So what do they do?

The idea from the Obama administration at the time was, okay, sticks have not worked in Cuba for like half a century, so we should try something else.

And that something else should be exposing Cubans to the benefits of capitalism.

Right.

After the break, we get inside the Trump administration's strategy with my colleague Michael Crowley.

We'll be right back.

So, Michael, our colleague Frenchy Robles just told us that the Cuban regime is more vulnerable than it's ever been because of the policies that the Trump administration has carried out.

You cover the administration's foreign policy.

So take me inside that story.

What are you seeing?