{"id":301739,"date":"2024-05-08T21:51:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T01:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=301739"},"modified":"2024-05-08T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T01:51:12","slug":"u-s-sanctions-against-cuba-looking-for-answers-in-the-belly-of-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba-usa\/u-s-sanctions-against-cuba-looking-for-answers-in-the-belly-of-the-beast\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. sanctions against Cuba: looking for answers in the belly of the beast"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the same day that the corruption trial will begin against Senator <\/span>Bob Men\u00e9ndez<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Belly of the Beast<\/span><\/i><\/a> will premiere on YouTube <\/span>Hardliner on the Hudson<\/span><\/i>, on May 13.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a documentary produced by the platform, whose filmmakers, represented before the cameras by Cuban journalist Liz Oliva, try to make the Democratic Senator \u2015 then president of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee \u2015 argue his obsessive crusade against Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

Men\u00e9ndez, who was not born on the island but in New York in 1954, escaped Oliva\u2019s requests by not giving a straight answer through the corridors of the Capitol or on the street itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this, he used one of his cronies: his press assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reed, an event explorer<\/b><\/p>\n

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Reed Lindsay. Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLiz Oliva was able, at least, to speak a little with Bob Men\u00e9ndez, although in the end, he did not give the interview. That was the most difficult part because they didn\u2019t want to talk. From the Biden administration we did not get any interview, unfortunately,\u201d Reed Lindsay (New York, 1975) told <\/span>OnCuba<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lindsay, an independent journalist and filmmaker who has covered dangerous crises in Egypt and Haiti, among others, presented in pre-premiere the documentaries directed by him <\/span>Hardliner on the Hudson<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Uphill on the Hill<\/span><\/i> at the headquarters of the Cinematheque of Cuba, in Havana.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both materials were seen in a crowded room by a diverse group of people who had arrived on the island for the May 1 celebrations. In addition to a majority of Americans and Cubans, people from Germany, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Chile, and Peru, among other nations, many of them wearing Kufiyahs in solidarity with Palestine.<\/span><\/p>\n

For many, the embargo\/blockade against Cuba issue is part of their militant agendas; for others, it could be a novelty to know how the United States applies sanctions using inconsistent pretexts.<\/span><\/p>\n

That punitive agenda, which has not been able to oust the political system on the island, but does condition to a great extent its twisted development, goes from the Cold War to the present, more than sixty years. It has harmed millions of Cubans, both on and off the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cuban journalist Liz Oliva challenges Senator Bob Men\u00e9ndez. Still from Hardliner on the Hudson. Courtesy of Belly of the Beast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why focus on Senator Men\u00e9ndez? \u201cWhen we started four years ago, Trump was president,\u201d says Lindsay, \u201cand we were covering the intensification of sanctions. We made a series called <\/span>The War against Cuba<\/span><\/i>, and when Biden was elected, we thought that perhaps there was no need to make another series of the war against Cuba, because Biden was the president.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut things changed little.\u2026 The war against Cuba continued under Biden. During Trump, Cuban American politicians, and Republicans, such as Marco Rubio, influenced the administration. <\/span>Mauricio Claver-Carone<\/span> also had a lot of influence on Trump\u2019s Cuba policy, and, suddenly, the same policy continues. So the question is why.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And did you find out why?<\/b><\/p>\n

We tried to get to an answer by questioning people with influences, with contacts, analysts, insiders, and everyone had a different opinion: some say it is the Florida factor; others, that it\u2019s that Cold War mentality, of Biden himself; some, that it was Ron Klain, Biden\u2019s Chief of Staff, who had worked in Gore\u2019s campaign and who, they say, was traumatized when he lost in that extra counting in Florida against Bush Jr.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some opinions claim that what they simply want is that Cuba collapses, but other people insist that Bob Men\u00e9ndez is the most influential person in the administration.<\/span><\/p>\n