Here we go again. It is the same old song and dance, and frankly, I am sick of hearing it. The big brains in Washington have decided to execute a strategy of **US sanctions on Cuba** one more time. They call it "tightening the vise." That is a nice, mechanical way of saying they are exacerbating the **Cuba economic crisis** and choking the life out of an entire island. The trending news confirms that ordinary people are scrambling to survive. No kidding. When the massive superpower next door decides to cut off your air supply via **foreign policy restrictions**, you don't exactly throw a party. You panic. You hustle. You suffer.

Let’s look at this genius plan regarding the **US embargo**. The idea is simple, in a caveman sort of way. Make life miserable for the average Cuban. Make them hungry. Make them broke. Make them desperate. Then, supposedly, they will get so mad they will march into the streets and demand **regime change in Havana**. That is the master plan. Seriously. It is like hitting someone in the face and telling them to blame their dad for it. It is cruel. It is also incredibly stupid. We have been trying this for sixty years. Has the government in Cuba fallen? No. Are the people eating less? Yes. Good job, America. You are really winning hearts and minds by making sure grandma can’t get her heart medicine.

But do not think for a second I am letting the Cuban leaders off the hook. Oh no. Those guys are loving this. Okay, maybe not loving the empty shelves, but they love the excuse. As long as the US is strangling them, they do not have to fix anything. Every pothole, every blackout, every shortage—it is not because they are bad at their jobs (which they are). It is because of the "Imperialist Yanks." The blockade is the ultimate "get out of jail free" card for the guys in charge in Havana. They get to play the victim. They get to tell their people, "Look, the enemy is at the gate! We must stand strong!" It keeps them in power just as much as it hurts them. They are useless, toxic grifters clinging to power, and we just handed them the perfect scapegoat.

So what do real people do? They hustle. The news says they are becoming "self-sufficient." That is a fancy, polite way of saying they are digging through trash and fixing fifty-year-old cars with duct tape and prayers. They are growing food in bathtubs to combat **food shortages**. They are trading favors because money is worthless. It is not inspiring; it is sad. It is survival mode. Humans are good at surviving, but they should not have to live like scavengers just because two groups of politicians want to have a staring contest. "Self-sufficient" is just code for "the system has failed you completely."

The experts say this is meant to "usher in a new government." What a joke. Since when has starving a population made them love democracy? It usually just makes them worry about dinner. If you are hungry, you do not plot a revolution. You plot how to get a chicken. You worry about your kids. You don't have the energy to fight a police state. The experts in DC sit in air-conditioned offices and move pawns on a map. They think if they push hard enough, the pieces will fall where they want. They do not see the people. They just see a regime they do not like.

And let’s talk about the hypocrisy. We trade with other bad guys all the time. If you have oil, or if you make cheap sneakers, the US does not care how you treat your people. You can be a dictator, a king, or a tyrant, and we will roll out the red carpet. But Cuba? No, that is different. Why? Who knows anymore. Maybe it is just habit. Maybe it is about votes in Florida. It is definitely not about human rights. If it was, we would not be trying to create a **humanitarian crisis** on an island that poses zero threat to us.

The saddest part is the waste. Cuba could be a paradise. It has beaches, culture, and smart people. But it is stuck in a time loop. The government there is stubborn, old, and incompetent. The government here is a bully and arrogant. Neither side will blink. The tightening of the "economic noose" isn't a strategy. It is torture. It is lazy. It is the act of a bully who ran out of ideas fifty years ago but keeps throwing punches because he does not know what else to do.

So, the Cubans scramble. They fix the unfixable. They eat the inedible. They wait. They wait for the old men in Havana to die or the old men in Washington to stop caring. But do not hold your breath. In this game, the only thing that matters is looking tough. And while the suits pose for the cameras, the people on the street are just trying to make it to tomorrow.

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### References & Fact-Check * **Original Event Reporting**: For the full context on the current economic measures and sanctions, read the original wire story: [Cubans scramble to survive as US vise on island tightens in push to oust government](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cubans-scramble-survive-us-vise-island-tightens-push-129708915) (ABC News). * **Context**: The current situation involves US policy explicitly aimed at pressuring the Cuban government through economic constriction, resulting in significant resource scarcity for the local population.