President Donald Trump today called Cuba an “absolutely failed state” and vowed the country “will fall.” Speaking before the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Trump declared to world leaders, “Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba.” As he spoke, members of the Cuban delegation stood up and left … Read more
The U.S. government is spending $100 million to send emergency aid to Cuba while ramping up efforts to strangle the island’s economy. The State Department awarded Catholic Relief Services $60 million to send boxes of food and supplies to around 200,000 households. Samaritan’s Purse received a $40 million State Department grant. It hasn’t announced a … Read more
Not long after taking office, Donald Trump gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, calling it “incompetent and corrupt.” More than 80% of USAID programs were cancelled. The agency ceased operations and the State Department took over its remaining programs. On Sept. 15, the State Department reported spending $58,494,305 in legacy USAID funds in Ukraine, … Read more
Human blood, nearly $10 million in chicken and a staggering $882,752 in communion wafers are among the latest U.S. monthly exports to Cuba. The Discalced Carmelite Nuns at the Monastery of St. Teresa and St. Joseph in Havana produce almost all the communion wafers for the island’s 304 Catholic parishes. But the cloistered nuns have … Read more
I was immersed in thoughts about information warfare today when someone reminded me that relations between the U.S. and Cuba weren’t always so tense and adversarial. “Obama and Rául showed the way,” he said. I was in Havana on Dec. 17, 2014, when Raúl Castro and then-President Barack Obama announced a new agreement to restore … Read more