Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Untouchable No More—U.S. Slaps Murder Charges on Former Cuban Leader Castro

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Untouchable No More—U.S. Slaps Murder Charges on Former Cuban Leader Castro · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Some may have spent a little bit too much time
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  Speaker 1: mister Jesus, I don't know what it is, but I
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  Speaker 1: So therefore, mister Superintendent, I here by absol all cadets
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  Speaker 1: who are on restriction for minor conduct infractions and even
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  Speaker 1: somewhat major infractions, effective immediately.
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  Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
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  Speaker 3: Good Thursday morning. It's nice to have you with us
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  Speaker 3: on the forty seven Morning Update. And we've got one
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  Speaker 3: very big story for you, but two parts of it
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  Speaker 3: that you're going to want to hear. First up, the
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  Speaker 3: Trump Department of Justice has indicted Raul Castro, this time
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  Speaker 3: for murder. He's the same man that watched a baseball
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  Speaker 3: game with Barack Obama. And now the question in part
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  Speaker 3: two is this what happens next to Castro? Will it
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  Speaker 3: look like Maduro? And now the big question is this,
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  Speaker 3: will the United States of America go after Castro the
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  Speaker 3: same way that we went after Maduro. When we talk
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  Speaker 3: talking about a people connected to a promise, a promise
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  Speaker 3: that continues even today. Because God's character doesn't change what
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  Speaker 3: he begins. He sustains what he promises, he fulfills, and
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  Speaker 3: that matters today. Right now in Israel, families run to
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  Speaker 3: shelters as sirens sound. Now this isn't just a crisis.
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  Speaker 3: It's a call to respond. For Christians. Caring for Jewish
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  Speaker 3: for the people who need it right now. Visit pray
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  Speaker 3: IFCJ dot org. That's pray IFCJ dot org. It's a
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  Speaker 3: forty seven morning update and it starts right now. Story
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  Speaker 3: number one truly historic breaking news happen in Miami. The
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  Speaker 3: United States Department of Justice has officially indicted the former
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  Speaker 3: Cuban dictator Roel Castro on murder and conspiracy charges tied
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  Speaker 3: to one of the most infamous acts of state sponsored
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  Speaker 3: terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. Now, the announcement came in
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  Speaker 3: Miami at the historic Freedom Tower. It is a symbolic
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  Speaker 3: location for generations of Cuban refugees who fled communist oppression
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  Speaker 3: under the Castle regime. The Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche
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  Speaker 3: announced the indictment alongside federal officials and members of Congress. Now,
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  Speaker 3: the charges stem from the nineteen ninety six shootdown of
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  Speaker 3: two civilian aircraft that were operated by the humanitarian group
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  Speaker 3: Brothers to the Rescue. Those planes were flying over international
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  Speaker 3: waters when Cuban MiG fighter jets fired missiles and blew
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  Speaker 3: them out of the sky, killing four men. Three were
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  Speaker 3: American citizens and one had a green cart. Now, let's
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  Speaker 3: be clear about what prosecutors are saying here. The DOJ says,
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  Speaker 3: this was not an accident, This was not confusion, This
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  Speaker 3: was not some rogue military officer acting independently federal prosecutor
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  Speaker 3: say Raoul Castro, who at the time was Cuba's defense minister,
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  Speaker 3: notily was involved, but helped direct and authorize the operation
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  Speaker 3: that intentionally targeted on armed civilian planes over international waters.
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  Speaker 3: For decades, families of the victims have waited for this
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  Speaker 3: type of accountability, and now, nearly thirty years later, the
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  Speaker 3: United States government is finally saying enough now to put
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  Speaker 3: in perspective about just how big of a deal this
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  Speaker 3: is when it comes to accountability. The same Castro that
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  Speaker 3: was indicted by the US government for murder today was
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  Speaker 3: sitting next to then President Barack Obama at a baseball
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  Speaker 3: game when Barack Obama was trying to normalize relationships with
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  Speaker 3: a man that the US government now says is a murderer.
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  Speaker 3: Todd Blanche announcing all this, and here is exactly what
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  Speaker 3: he had to say. Today.
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  Speaker 4: We are announcing an indictment charging Rol Castro and several
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  Speaker 4: others with conspiracy to kill US nationals. Mister Castro and
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  Speaker 4: the others are charged with additional crimes as well, including
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  Speaker 4: destruction of aircraft and four individual counts of murder. The
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  Speaker 4: indictment was returned by a grand jury sitting in this
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  Speaker 4: district in Miami on April twenty third, twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 4: and was unsealed today for nearly thirty years. Thirty years
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  Speaker 4: the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice
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  Speaker 4: on February. This is a story all too familiar. On
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  Speaker 4: February twenty fourth, nineteen ninety six, two civilian aircraft operated
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  Speaker 4: by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down over international
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  Speaker 4: waters by military aircraft from Cuba. Four men were killed,
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  Speaker 4: Carlos Costo, Armando Lajndre, Junior, Mario de la Pigna, and
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  Speaker 4: Pablo Morales. They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian
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  Speaker 4: missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression.
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  Speaker 3: Across the Florida Straits.
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  Speaker 4: As alleged in the indictment, Raul Castro and five co
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  Speaker 4: defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military
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  Speaker 4: aircraft firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans.
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  Speaker 4: Those are the allegations returned by a federal grand jury.
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  Speaker 4: My message today is clear. The United States and President
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  Speaker 4: Trump does not and will not forget its citizens. I
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  Speaker 4: want to say that we also do not forget the
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  Speaker 4: families the loved ones and the friends who have carried
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  Speaker 4: grief and heartache for thirty years. For the first time
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  Speaker 4: in nearly seventy years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime
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  Speaker 4: has been charged in this country. In the United States
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  Speaker 4: of America for acts of violence resulting in the deaths
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  Speaker 4: of American citizens. Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted
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  Speaker 4: to target Americans, kill them and not face accountability. President
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  Speaker 4: Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle.
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  Speaker 4: If you kill Americans, and we will pursue you, no
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  Speaker 4: matter who you are, no matter what title you hold,
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  Speaker 4: and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.
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  Speaker 3: You could hear the emotion in the room when the
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  Speaker 3: indictments were announced with the extended applause, because for decades
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  Speaker 3: the families of the victims have been waiting for this
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  Speaker 3: type of accountability and wondering if it would ever come,
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  Speaker 3: especially when you had the Obama administration CosIng up side
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  Speaker 3: by side with a man that now the US is
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  Speaker 3: charging with murder. Imagine being one of those family members
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  Speaker 3: watching the politics of that play out now. The indictment
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  Speaker 3: includes conspiracy to kill US nationals, multiple murder counts and
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  Speaker 3: destruction of aircraft. Prosecutors say the evidence includes military communications,
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  Speaker 3: intelligent assessments, and long standing testimony connected Castro directly to
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  Speaker 3: the attack, and this matters for another reason, this is
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  Speaker 3: not happening in isolation. The Trump administration clearly has a
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  Speaker 3: game plan here, and they have dramatically escalated pressure on
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  Speaker 3: the Cuban regime in recent weeks and months. Relations between
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  Speaker 3: Washington and Havana have deteriorated rapidly amid Cuba's economic collapse,
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  Speaker 3: the blackouts, the isolation, and the protests, as well as
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  Speaker 3: food shortages and the growing unrest inside the island nation.
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  Speaker 3: The timing of this indictment is also deeply symbolic. It
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  Speaker 3: was announced on Cuba's Independence Day and the heart of
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  Speaker 3: Miami's Cuban exile community, and politically, there's also a very
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  Speaker 3: clear message that White House is sending no communist dictator
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  Speaker 3: is untouchable in the Western Hemisphere anymore, because Americans just
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  Speaker 3: watched something extraordinary happen in Venezuela with Nicholas Maduro, and
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  Speaker 3: for years people said Madua would never face justice, people
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  Speaker 3: said indictments were just symbolic and meaningless against cartel members.
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  Speaker 3: All the world, people said, dictators are also literally protected forever.
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  Speaker 3: And then suddenly the pressure campaign intensified from the Trump administration.
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  Speaker 3: International isolation that increased, the financial networks around these individuals collapsed,
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  Speaker 3: and military allies then disappeared. People around Maduro started turning
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  Speaker 3: on him, and eventually he was captured. That precedent is
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  Speaker 3: hanging over the story right now, and let's be honest,
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  Speaker 3: Roe Castro is ninety four years old. Cuba is not
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  Speaker 3: going to voluntarily extrite him tomorrow morning. But indictments, they
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  Speaker 3: do matter. Once someone is indicted by the United States government,
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  Speaker 3: they become internationally radioactive. Travel becomes extremely dangerous. The financial
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  Speaker 3: systems close, and allies deliberately start distancing themselves from the
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  Speaker 3: individual intelligence agency begin coordinating, and then the diplomatic pressure
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  Speaker 3: even increases more. It's exactly what happened around Maduro and
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  Speaker 3: now it's happening around Castro, and perhaps most importantly, the
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  Speaker 3: regime begins to fracture internally, because once the people around
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  Speaker 3: a dictator realize that America is very serious, the first
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  Speaker 3: thing that always happens, just like with Maduro, is a
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  Speaker 3: survival instincts kick in big time, and that is exactly
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  Speaker 3: what is happening in Cuba as we speak. Many in
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  Speaker 3: Cuban exile community believe history may be starting to repeat itself.
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  Speaker 3: The bigger story here is that America is signaling a
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  Speaker 3: completely different posture towards hostile regimes in our hemisphere. And
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  Speaker 3: for years communist governments in Cuba and Venezuela they operated
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  Speaker 3: under the assumption that they could literally just outlast every
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  Speaker 3: administration in Washington. Now they're looking at criminal indictments, sanctions,
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  Speaker 3: diplomatic isolation, and the very real possibility that the people
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  Speaker 3: at the top may eventually actually face justice not in
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  Speaker 3: their country but in America's courtroom. And after thirty years,
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  Speaker 3: the families of those murdered pilots finally heard words they've
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  Speaker 3: waited decades to hear that Raul Castro has been charged
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  Speaker 3: with murdering their family members.
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  Speaker 2: Now story number two.
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  Speaker 3: So the big question a lot of people have now
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  Speaker 3: is what happens next the Maduro model? And well, could
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  Speaker 3: that be exactly what Castro should be so nervous about.
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  Speaker 3: That is the question everyone is asking, not just the US,
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  Speaker 3: but also in Cuba, because if you look carefully at
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  Speaker 3: what the Trump administration has done with Venezuela, and now
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  Speaker 3: what they're doing with Cuba, you can see a very
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  Speaker 3: clear strategy that's emerging. Step one, you criminally indict the
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  Speaker 3: regime leadership. Step two, do you cut off financial lifelines.
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  Speaker 3: Step three, you then increase diplomatic isolation. Step four you
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  Speaker 3: pressure insiders to then flip, and we know the CIA
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  Speaker 3: director was literally just in Cuba having meetings. And step
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  Speaker 3: five you then wait for the regime to weaken from within.
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  Speaker 3: That's exactly what happened with Maduro. It worked perfectly. At first,
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  Speaker 3: people laughed off the indictments against him, They called them symbolic.
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  Speaker 3: They said he would never be touched because he controlled
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  Speaker 3: the military and the intelligence apparatus in Venezuela. By the way,
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  Speaker 3: he had a lot more money and guns and power
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  Speaker 3: than what you see right now in Cuba. And then
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  Speaker 3: you go back to the game plan of Venezuela. Over time,
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  Speaker 3: things started to change. Sanctions crush the revenue streams, exactly
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  Speaker 3: what we're witnessing in Cuba right now. Then international banking
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  Speaker 3: access dried up. All then became liabilities. Corruption networks got exposed,
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  Speaker 3: and people inside the regime started cooperating, and then that's
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  Speaker 3: when the walls began closing in Now look at where
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  Speaker 3: we are at this exact moment with Cuba. Cuba is
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  Speaker 3: facing almost the exact same warning signs. The Cuban economy
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  Speaker 3: is in a catastrophic condition. It's actually far worse than
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  Speaker 3: it was in Venezuela. The island not only suffering rolling blackouts,
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  Speaker 3: but now they're suffering real food shortages, fuel shortages, and
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  Speaker 3: increase public unrest that we haven't seen in years. Young
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  Speaker 3: Cubans are also fleeing in record numbers. The government is
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  Speaker 3: literally struggling to maintain basic control. They're also running out
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  Speaker 3: of jet fuel, and the regime no longer has the
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  Speaker 3: same financial backing that it once relied on from Venezuela
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  Speaker 3: and from other adversaries of the US. And that's critical
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  Speaker 3: because Cuba and Venezuela have long operated as basically survival
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  Speaker 3: partners for socialist authoritarianism in Latin America. When Venezuela weakens,
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  Speaker 3: Cuba weakens. And now the Trump administration appears to be
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  Speaker 3: exploiting exactly that vulnerability, and it was planned out perfectly.
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  Speaker 3: So the indictment against Royal Castro is anything but symbolic.
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  Speaker 3: It's more than a legal document. Not only is its
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  Speaker 3: psychological warfare against the Cuban regime, it's telling the military
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  Speaker 3: officials there literally, you could be next. It tells the
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  Speaker 3: intelligence officers the United States is collecting evidence and you
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  Speaker 3: could be next. It tells the regime insiders, your protection
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  Speaker 3: may have been lost forever, and that creates the real
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  Speaker 3: fear inside authoritarian governments. Now, remember this, most dictatorships don't
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  Speaker 3: collapse from outside invasion anymore. They collapse internally. It's when
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  Speaker 3: people start to defect, when the military leaders then start
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  Speaker 3: cutting deals, when the business elites start moving their money.
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  Speaker 3: Intelligence officials then start leaking information to gain favors, and
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  Speaker 3: eventually the regime loses the ability to even project fear
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  Speaker 3: on the people to keep them down. And that's what
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  Speaker 3: happened around Maduro. And by the way, many Cuban Americans
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  Speaker 3: they're celebrating because they believe that the same process is
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  Speaker 3: beginning for them in Havana. Now there's also the other
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  Speaker 3: question that everyone asks. Will Raoul Castro himself ever stand
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  Speaker 3: trial in Miami. No one knows he's ninety four years old.
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  Speaker 3: It's obviously a factor, being that he's so old in
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  Speaker 3: his age. But this is bigger than just one man.
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  Speaker 3: This is about this mantling, the aura of invincibility surrounding
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  Speaker 3: the cast Or regime and the loyalists there look for decades,
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  Speaker 3: the Castro name represents an untouchable power in Cuba, so
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  Speaker 3: much so that even Barack Obama set down with Roal
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  Speaker 3: Castro and watched a baseball game side by side this murderer. Now,
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  Speaker 3: the former dictator stands indicted by the same US government
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  Speaker 3: that used to sit down with him. That is a
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  Speaker 3: change in history. And there's also another major issue. The
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  Speaker 3: Cuban military and political elite. Well, they're watching very carefully
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  Speaker 3: to see whether America is serious, because if they believe
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  Speaker 3: the pressure campaign will continue, if they believe sanctions will intensify,
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  Speaker 3: and if they believe more indictments are coming, then the
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  Speaker 3: survival instinct begins to take over instantly. And that's when
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  Speaker 3: everything starts to when people start choosing themselves over the
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  Speaker 3: regime that they've been loyal too. And if that process
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  Speaker 3: begins to accelerate, and let's be clear, Cuba is virtually
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  Speaker 3: shut down right now from the rest of the world.
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  Speaker 3: The Cuban government now faces its greatest internal instability. It's
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  Speaker 3: seen since the revolution began. That's why this was not
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  Speaker 3: just a courtroom story, just another indictment. This is a
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  Speaker 3: geopolitical warning shot. The message from Washington is also very simple.
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  Speaker 3: The error of communist dictators in the Western Hemisphere operating
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  Speaker 3: with our consequences may finally be coming to a very
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  Speaker 3: real end, without a war actually ever starting.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
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  Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow