60 Minutes: U.S. pressure deepens crisis in Cuba

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorIn Cuba right now, a carton of eggs can cost more than a month's salary, according to a 60 Minutes report on CBS.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA month's salary for eggs. Okay, so give me the one-sentence version for somebody who just woke up.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorNew U. S. sanctions are squeezing an island that was already short on basics.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWhat did CBS actually find on the ground?

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorDoctors told CBS that when generators fail, some surgeries have been finished by cellphone light, and ventilators have been pumped by hand.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBy hand.

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorAnd a toddler at one hospital had waited sixty-eight days for a part for an artificial lung machine that normally arrives in two.

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   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentHow did the island get here?

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   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorCuba has been under communist rule and a U. S. trade embargo for decades.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorCuban officials say only a single tanker of oil has arrived since early January.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentOne tanker since early January. That's a delivery that never shows up, except the order is the power grid.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThe Trump administration says the new sanctions target a corrupt regime, and the State Department says a military-run company called GAESA controls an estimated forty percent or more of the economy.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the sanctions aim at the generals. Who is actually standing in the egg aisle?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorOrdinary Cubans, and that's my question too. When the target is the elite and the bill lands on the shoppers, who exactly is paying?

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWhat does Havana say?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorDeputy foreign minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told CBS the U. S. has no legitimacy and its pressure is criminal.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentAnd Washington?

18. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorSecretary of State Rubio declined an interview, but his spokesman said the failing regime hides billions in overseas bank accounts.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentTwo statements, and both are about the other side's behavior.

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorCuba enacted one hundred seventy-six economic reforms this past summer, according to the CBS interview with Matt Gutman. It's not clear yet whether any of that reaches the shelves.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo what do we watch next?

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    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorWhether another oil tanker arrives, whether the sanctions tighten, and whether anyone in either capital changes course. Nobody has said they will.

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    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBoth governments have statements. The toddler still doesn't have the part.