60 Minutes Transcript: U.S. pressure deepens crisis in Cuba
The basics have become luxuries in Cuba, which has been under communist rule and a U.S. trade embargo for decades. The Trump administration says new sanctions target the country's corrupt regime.
Cuba has been under communist rule since the 1960s, with the government employing most of the population and managing hospitals and schools. Opposition parties are illegal, and the U.S. embargo has kept the island cut off from American trade for decades. The Trump administration has tightened the embargo, cutting off Cuba's oil supply and threatening sanctions on those who do business with the Cuban regime.
Havana blames Washington, claiming the sanctions aim to turn Cuba into a failed state. Caught in the middle are over 9 million Cubans. Last month, the report traveled to Cuba and found a country in freefall, with pharmacy shelves bare, bread lines stretching around the block, and most of the country plunged into darkness during daily blackouts.
The crisis has been decades in the making, with the regime jailed critics, limited free speech, and allegedly hoarding billions of dollars. Cuban officials now say only a single tanker of oil has reached the island since early January, crippling the country's electrical grid. Doctors are struggling to treat patients, with many leaving the profession or the country due to poor pay and the burden of second jobs.
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- Cuba in Crisis | Sunday on 60 Minutes cbsnews.com
