Biden backtracked on his campaign promise to reverse Trump's draconian sanctions on Cuba and is maintaining them, despite the pandemic and Raul Castro's departure from the country's leadership. Documentary filmmaker Reed Lindsay joins host Greg Wilpert to talk about what this has meant for Cuba.

Transcript

Greg

Welcome to theAnalysis, I'm Greg Wilpert. Last week, Raul Castro stepped down as leader of Cuba's Communist Party. One could say that this signaled the end of an era, although one could also say that it has been a long drawn out end. With the death of Fidel Castro in 2016, Raul Castro stepping down from the presidency in 2018 and turning it over to Miguel Diaz-Canel. And now, three years later, Diaz-Canel also takes over the leadership of the Communist Party.

Meanwhile, Cuba is facing a severe economic crisis first caused by the intensification of US sanctions against Cuba during the Trump presidency, and now the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Joining me to discuss the current situation in Cuba is Reed Lindsey, who joins me from Cuba's capital, Havana. Reed is a documentary filmmaker and the director of the film series The War on Cuba, which was produced by the film organization Belly of The Beast, which is available on social media and YouTube.

Greg

Thanks for joining me, Reed.

Reed Lindsay

Thanks Greg for having me.

Greg

So let's start with the party Congress and Raul Castro stepping down. Raul himself emphasized the slogan of continuity. But how is Raul's departure being perceived by ordinary Cubans? Is it more associated with more of the same? Or are there expectations that some things will change? And if so, what?

Reed Lindsay

Well, I think when it comes to Raul and Fidel, there was a much greater focus on it in the United States and in Cuba as far as the possibility of change that this Congress got a lot of coverage in the US and internationally, and people asking this question about what this mean for Cuba? Will there be a big change? I can't say that I noticed a lot of ordinary Cubans talking about this much.

Reed Lindsay

I think that continuity is assumed. And I also think that right now, the economic situation is so dire at the moment that most Cubans are very focused on the day to day trying to get through the economic crisis, this COVID crisis, which is related to the economic crisis. And the recent Communist Party Congress is sort of something that everybody knew was going to happen anyway, and not something that that people were really focused on as something that was going to produce any kind of political change.

Greg

As you mentioned, the two main challenges that Cuba is facing and also, as I mentioned in the introduction are the economic crisis and the sanctions and the pandemic. So let's start with the sanctions and the economic crisis, which is also the main topic of your film series, The War on Cuba. Give us a brief overview as to how the US Cuba relationship has evolved since Obama's opening towards Cuba in 2014 and 2015?

Reed Lindsay

Yes. Obama ushered in historic change with Cuba, engagement with Cuba, and it seemed a real fundamental change in the way politics and policy around Cuba happened in the United States. I mean, for many years to win an election in the United States, you need it's [inaudible 00:03:49] to the Cuban-American hardliners in Florida. And Obama seemed to break with that and engaging with Cuba, and it seemed like there was a political calculation behind it.