Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
After the United States ousted Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January and took out Iran’s senior leadership in February, U.S. President Donald Trump set his sights on Cuba, claiming that he would have the “honor of taking” the island. Now, after five months of a U.S. oil blockade, Havana is restructuring its economy and even publicly welcoming diplomacy with Washington.
So, is a new form of regime change underway in Cuba, or will the Trump administration seek to replicate the model of Venezuela or Iran? Michael Bustamante, a leading historian of Cuban-American relations, joined FP Live to assess the White House’s options.
Watch the interview at ForeignPolicy.com: foreignpolicy.com/live/michael-bustamante-cuba-trump
Read FP’s new print magazine here: foreignpolicy.com/projects/the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it
0:00 Intro
2:00 U.S. strategy on Cuba
4:44 The Venezuela comparison
8:17 Why does Trump care about Cuba?
12:00 U.S. public opinion
14:34 Humanitarian crisis
18:25 Who’s to blame?
21:26 Havana’s strategy
26:11 A path forward
28:55 Is an invasion likely?
30:23 The wider region
33:58 China’s presence in Cuba
On the go? Listen to FP Live as a podcast at link.chtbl.com/foreignpolicylivepodcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
FP Live is Foreign Policy's forum for live journalism that brings leading foreign-policy experts and thinkers together to analyze the world's biggest events. Visit foreignpolicy.com/live for the full conversation and more live journalism from Foreign Policy.
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's Youtube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
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Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
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After the United States ousted Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January and took out Iran’s senior leadership in February, U.S. President Donald Trump set his sights on Cuba, claiming that he would have the “honor of taking” the island. Now, after five months of a U.S. oil blockade, Havana is restructuring its economy and even publicly welcoming diplomacy with Washington.
So, is a new form of regime change underway in Cuba, or will the Trump administration seek to replicate the model of Venezuela or Iran? Michael Bustamante, a leading historian of Cuban-American relations, joined FP Live to assess the White House’s options.
Watch the interview at ForeignPolicy.com: foreignpolicy.com/live/michael-bustamante-cuba-trump
Read FP’s new print magazine here: foreignpolicy.com/projects/the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it
0:00 Intro
2:00 U.S. strategy on Cuba
4:44 The Venezuela comparison
8:17 Why does Trump care about Cuba?
12:00 U.S. public opinion
14:34 Humanitarian crisis
18:25 Who’s to blame?
21:26 Havana’s strategy
26:11 A path forward
28:55 Is an invasion likely?
30:23 The wider region
33:58 China’s presence in Cuba
On the go? Listen to FP Live as a podcast at link.chtbl.com/foreignpolicylivepodcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
FP Live is Foreign Policy's forum for live journalism that brings leading foreign-policy experts and thinkers together to analyze the world's biggest events. Visit foreignpolicy.com/live for the full conversation and more live journalism from Foreign Policy.
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's Youtube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
