GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Cuba's Trump standoff and economic crisis with Michael Bustamante
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Apr 25, 2026 
Michael Bustamante, a historian at the University of Miami who studies Cuban history and U.S.-Cuba relations. He discusses Cuba’s severe economic collapse and daily hardships. He explains migration, remittances, and coping strategies. He examines likely U.S. policy paths, the limits of opposition on the island, and whether economic deals could reshape power.
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Cuba Faces A 1990s-Scale Economic Collapse
- Cuba is in its worst crisis since the Soviet collapse with widespread blackouts, fuel shortages, and rising poverty that force people to plan hour-to-hour.
- Michael Bustamante compares this to the 1990s collapse and notes GDP never recovered from 1989, making current suffering feel equally or more severe.
Daily Survival Is Hourly And Remittances Circumvent State Channels
- Daily life includes 18-hour blackouts, cooking by street fire, broken services and severe shortages, hitting state-sector workers hardest.
- Remittances now bypass Cuban military channels using private foreign accounts and ecommerce-style deliveries to families.
Largest Ever Exodus Leaves Fewer Protesters And An Older Population
- Mass migration has removed between one and two million Cubans in five years, more than 10% of the population and a larger exodus proportionally than post-revolution.
- That demographic loss and aging population reduce the pool available to fuel large protests or renewal.