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Even as the Trump administration tightens the vise on Cuba — imposing a crushing oil blockade that has exacerbated fuel shortages and power outages — U.S. citizens are traveling to the island seeking medicine they can’t get in their own country.
In our latest video, we show how Colorado-based physician Dr. Bill Blanchet is helping Alzheimer’s patients access a groundbreaking treatment developed by Cuban scientists.
Also this week:
- Belly of the Beast Is Hiring!
- Cuba to Participate in World Baseball Classic Despite Visa Denials
- Cuban President Calls for “Urgent” Economic Reforms
- Amid U.S.-Israeli War on Iran, Neocon Legislators Say Cuba is “Next”
- Cuba To Install 5,000 Chinese-donated Solar Panels
- Join Us On a Guided Trip to Cuba!
This Drug Could "Change the World"
More than seven million people in the U.S. are estimated to suffer from Alzheimer's, a disease that systematically destroys a person's memory, personality and ability to function. While there is no cure, there’s reason for hope. Despite being battered by a severe economic crisis fueled by U.S. sanctions, a group of patients from the U.S recently traveled to Cuba to access a promising medication called NeuralCIM.
Studies indicate that, unlike other medications, NeuralCIM has managed to slow the disease's progression over an extended period of time without significant side effects, and has even reversed symptoms in some cases.
Colorado physician Dr. Bill Blanchet has accompanied his patients to Havana and says the impact of NeuralCIM, in just six months, has been life-changing.
“Making this drug available to the rest of the world is a mandate. It’s not a wish,” Blanchet told Belly of the Beast. “It will change the world.”
Belly of the Beast’s upcoming documentary, Teresita’s Dream, tells the story of Dr. Teresita Rodríguez, a Cuban scientist who helped develop NeuralCIM while caring for her mother as she lived with the disease.
“It would be very unfair if this product couldn’t reach other parts of the world,” Teresita says in the documentary. “It’s frustrating to think this could happen because of politics.”
Belly of the Beast Is Hiring!
We're looking for a full-time writer/editor to join our team! The position involves working closely with our Cuba-based journalists to write our weekly newsletter, edit video subtitles, create social media posts, and edit and write articles.
At a perilous moment, when the U.S. is exacting collective punishment on the Cuban people, this is a paid opportunity to make a difference through principled, hard-hitting journalism. For more information on how to apply, visit our website.
Despite Visa Denials, Cuba Will Compete in WBC
Eight members of the Cuban delegation to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) have been denied U.S. visas, blocking them from traveling to Cuba’s first game in Puerto Rico. But that has not stopped the Cuban team from competing in the tournament. Cuba will face off with Panama today.
Support staff and officials, including the president and secretary-general of the federation, as well as pitching coach and former star pitcher Pedro Luis Lazo, were denied visas.
The Cuban Baseball Federation called the visa denials “discriminatory, politicized and unethical.” It said U.S. officials pointed to a lack of cooperation with the U.S. on immigration enforcement to justify the visa denials.
There is no indication that Cuba has not cooperated with the U.S. on immigration enforcement. As Belly of the Beast has documented, Cuba continues to receive monthly deportation flights from the United States despite the Trump administration unilaterally ending bilateral migration talks that had been held regularly under the Biden administration.
The visa denials are not new. Since Trump assumed office, dozens of Cuban athletes have been prevented from competing in international tournaments. The women’s national volleyball team was denied visas to “protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security threats.”
Read more about Marco Rubio’s war on Cuban athletes in this article by Dariel Pradas and Reed Lindsay.
More than the national sport, baseball is central to Cuban national identity. Historically, the island has been a baseball powerhouse, winning more international tournaments than any other country. And despite an exodus of talented players in recent years, the team reached the semifinals in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Cuban President Calls for “Urgent” Economic Reforms
Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Monday called for “urgent transformations” to the country’s economy.
His remarks were made during a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Cuban government’s top decision-making body. Díaz-Canel said the changes would be related to business and municipal autonomy and “resizing the state apparatus.”
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy called on municipalities to develop their own sustainable local development plans using resources provided by the national government.
“The government has been trying to push this for a long time but it’s been a slow process,” said Emily Morris, a development economist with the Institute of the Americas at University College London. “Decentralization is very difficult because people at the municipal level often don’t have the capacity, skills and knowledge.”
Neocon Legislators Say Cuba is “Next”
In the wake of an armed attack by Cuban-born Florida residents and an unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, right-wing U.S. politicians are hyping the prospect of a military intervention in Cuba.
Cheerleading the U.S. bombing of Iran, which has so far killed more than 1,000 including 160 children in a girls’ secondary school, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News on Sunday: “Cuba’s next.”
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), a Cuban-American hardliner, on Monday echoed him on X: “What just happened in Iran…is a warning for every dictatorship that believes power lasts forever…CUBA is next.”
Some U.S. media outlets have parroted these calls for U.S. intervention.
The Hill on Tuesday published a column with the headline “Cubans are begging for the U.S. to finish the job.” The entire article was based on an interview with Cuban journalist Camila Acosta. Columnist Daniel Allot presents Acosta as an "independent" journalist. Since 2019, Acosta has worked for CubaNet, a longtime recipient of U.S. government funding.
“The United States government spends at least $50 million dollars a year on covert actions and information operations targeting Cuba, often to superimpose its views onto the Cuban people,” said Fulton Armstrong, a former CIA analyst who also served as the National Intelligence Officer for Latin America. “But we can’t take the voice of influencers that we pay for, most of whom are in Miami and Madrid, as representing the 10 million people on the island.”
Cuba To Install 5,000 Solar Panels Donated By China
Granma, the official newspaper of Cuba’s Communist Party, published an article on Monday announcing the National Electric Union will soon begin installing 5,000 solar panels donated by China. The panels will be installed in a wide range of locations, and many will not connect to the national grid.
Western and central Cuba suffered a major power outage Wednesday after a failure at the island’s largest power plant triggered a partial collapse of the electrical grid. Power has since been gradually restored.
Just over half of the two-kilowatt panels will go to maternity homes, nursing homes, senior centers, emergency rooms, funeral homes, banks, municipal radio stations, radio transmitters, internet communications facilities and the commercial offices of the Electric Union, the state-run electric company. The rest will be installed in “isolated” homes, some of which have never had electricity.
“If you install a 2 kW system for these people there, so they can have a refrigerator, a fan, a television, their lives change completely, and then we contribute to preventing these people from migrating from their communities,” said Elena Maidelín Ortiz Fernández, head of the Electric Union’s installation project.
Join Us On a Guided Trip to Cuba!
Travel to Havana with Belly of the Beast journalists and filmmakers for an immersive eight-day trip where you’ll meet the people behind our stories, visit community projects and experience the island beyond the headlines.
Next trip: April 4–11.
Learn more!
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