An update to a story we’ve been covering.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Trump: Taking Cuba in some form,whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it to tell you the truth they’re weakened nation right now..

When US forces removed Venezuelan president Maduro in January, it cut off the supply of crucial oil from Venezuela to Cuba. Without that fuel, Cuba’s been thrown into crisis, its power grid has collapsed.. Leaving much of the island in darkness.. And there are protests rising, signs the country may be facing the biggest upheaval since the communist takeover by Fidel Castro over 60 years ago.

Full Measure has reported on Cuba’s plight. On our trip to the island nation nearly three years ago we reported the government was opening up to capitalism for some businesses.. acknowledging the Soviet style economy had failed.

The economic failure is a leading point in the engagement now led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio—whose parents immigrated from Cuba.

Rubio: Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a government/political system that can’t fix it.

After President Trump named Rubio point person on Cuba, I spoke with Cuba Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernandez de Cossio who said the country was anxious to rekindle ties with the US. Which would mean the US dropping its 64-year old punitive trade embargo that pushed Cuba closer to China and Russia.

Cossio: Anyone who would visit the country would know that we live a very modest life, that our infrastructure needs a lot of investment in it, that we have lots of problems with our economy. But I would push to put to a test: allow the U.S. to lift the embargo for just two years, just two years, and measure what Cuba can be done.

Sharyl: With Marco Rubio named a secretary of State. What do you think that does to the prospects of better relationship of any kind between us and Cuba in the next four years?

Cossio: He’s a known enemy of Cuba. He’s, he’s, he’s never set foot on Cuba. He wasn’t born in Cuba. He has relatives, which were are, or Cuba. He’s being vocal in one to the, to overthrow the Cuban government to change Cuba in a way that is liking to him or to the people that surround him or perhaps to the US government not in accordance with this desire of the people of Cuba.

But now there appear to be escalating protests by the Cuban people. On our visit in 2023, we found Cuban entrepreneurs taking advantage of the opening economy — and with an appetite for more change.

Perez-Gonzalez: Makes sense to open a business. So, yeah, we just did it.

Sharyl: You’re sort of a pioneer, in this country, at least for 60 years these types of things were not allowed. There’s really no blueprint for how to do that here.

Perez-Gonzalez: Yeah, that’s right, yeah.

Watch the video here.