Where do US-Cuba relations go from here?
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In this week’s magazine, the New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson asks, “Have Cubans Fled One Authoritarian State for Another?” Anderson quotes former Florida Congressman Joe Garcia: “Let’s face it—both communities, Havana and Miami, are dying,” Garcia said. “For decades, the exile community in Miami existed by being against Cuba. But how do you do that now? What is Cuba today? Nothing. At least before there was Fidel, this mythical figure, but Cuba now is a failed nation. And so, frankly, is this city, built on the idea of freedom and the offer of sanctuary to those fleeing persecution elsewhere. That’s all gone now.”
Late last month, Assata Shakur passed away in Havana. Her case was long a sticking point in US-Cuba relations and used as a reason for Cuba’s placement on the State Sponsor of Terrorism List. In May of this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to Shakur’s case on X, saying that the “Cuban regime continues to provide safe haven for terrorists and criminals, including fugitives from the United States.” Her death marks the end of a highly publicized case which began with her 1977 conviction for the murder of a New Jersey police officer. She escaped from prison in 1979, and was granted political asylum in Cuba in 1984, where she had lived ever since.
Cuba’s 88 year-old Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, also passed away last month. He was a key figure in Cuba’s government and had played a major role in the country’s economic policy, particularly since 2019. He was preceded in death this year by two other notable government officials–diplomat Abelardo Moreno, and the highly influential bureaucrat Abraham Maciques.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 immigrants previously detained in Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” have gone missing, and migrants across the country are living in fear for themselves and their families.
As Cuba’s government contends with blackouts and shortages with no end in sight, and Miami is no longer a place of refuge for Cubans yearning for economic freedom, US-Cuba relations are no longer what they once were.
What is left of Cuba? Of Miami? And where do US-Cuba relations go from here?
This week in Cuba news…
Former Black Liberation Army Militant, Assata Shakur, Dies in Cuba at 78
Assata Shakur, born JoAnne Byron, passed away at 78 years old in Havana, Cuba. Shakur, known for being a former member of the Black Liberation Army, was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped a prison in which she was serving a sentence for the killing of a New Jersey state trooper in the midst of a gun battle on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. Shakur had long proclaimed her innocence of the crimes for which she was convicted. The FBI named Shakur as a most wanted terrorist in 2013. The US has continuously cited Shakur’s presence in Cuba as part of the rationale behind Cuba’s designation on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
The New Yorker Highlights The Jeopardy Cubans Face in Miami and Havana
The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson dives into Cuba’s recent mass exodus–and the country Cubans are finding on the other side of their journey. Anderson cites the crackdown on the 2021 antigovernment protests and demonstrates as the catalyst for the exodus, while detailing chronic conditions–disintegration of the electrical grid and the erosion of agricultural production–which compound the island’s crisis. Yet the article turns by acknowledging that Miami and the US’s increasingly authoritarian practices and draconian laws are leaving Cubans without options.
Anderson highlights the Trump administration’s decision to end the CHNV Parole program and the uncertainty that I-220A holders face as jeopardy for Cubans who once thought of the US as a safe haven. He subsequently highlights the tension Cuban-American representatives in the U.S. Congress faces as they signal discontent with the administration's immigration policy while encouraging its hardline policy toward Cuba’s government.
The Miami Herald Reports that Hundreds of Individuals Held in Alligator Alcatraz Unable to be Located
There are currently hundreds of men who were detained at the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center who have disappeared. As of the end of August, the Miami Herald could not determine the location of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at the South Florida facility during the month of July. Through ICE’s online database, 800 of these individuals had no record, and more than 450 were listed as “no location.” Attorneys noted that this phrase could mean that a detainee is still being processed, in the middle of a facility transfer, or in the process of deportation. Alligator-Alcatraz is a state-run facility where detainees are not registered in federal databases. Currently, the state of Florida has no way of tracking individuals who are detained.
The Miami Herald has reported that detainees who could not be located may have been deported, even though most did not have a final removal order from a judge at the time of their detention. Harsh conditions inside the detention center may have forced some detainees to abandon their immigration cases, effectively pressuring them into deportation. Others, who chose to continue their cases, were nevertheless deported despite having a legal right to remain in the country.
A harrowing example of these disappearances is the case of Michael Borrego Fernández, a 35-year-old Cuban individual who was detained at the detention center. He was one of several detainees who filed a class-action suit against the Trump and DeSantis administrations over lack of access to legal counsel. First, Borrego was transferred to the Krome Detention Center on August 2, then he was transferred to Otay Mesa Detention Center in California, before his family lost contact with him. His attorney repeatedly sought confirmation of his whereabouts, only to be told that no one by that name was in custody. More than a week later, Borrego’s family heard from him and found out authorities deported him to the Mexican state of Tabasco.
Leading Cuban Dissident José Daniel Ferrer Announces Exile
In a letter from prison dated September 10, 2025, José Daniel Ferrer revealed he has accepted going into exile after allegedly facing constant pressure from Cuban authorities. Mr. Ferrer cites “blows, torture, humiliation, threats, and extreme conditions” in describing the cruelty he faced returning to prison after his short-lived Vatican-brokered release. He goes on to say in the letter that he accepted exile after facing threats against his family members.
Mr. Ferrer set the deadline of October 6 for his release under the exile deal he had reached with the authorities. Mr. Ferrer, the founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), had resisted pressure to go into exile for years. A key figure in the opposition to Cuba’s government, Mr. Ferrer expressed in the letter his appreciation for the “solidarity” the US has shown to the “peaceful opposition and the Cuban people,” a nod to the hardline policy the Trump administration has taken toward Cuba.
Supreme Court to Hear Exxon Case on Cuba’s Nationalized Assets
Reuters reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear ExxonMobil’s bid to seek compensation from Cuban state-owned companies for oil and gas assets seized by Fidel Castro’s government in 1960.
The Supreme Court had recently expressed its interest in Title III Helms-Burton lawsuits after plaintiffs in two separate cases asked it to take their cases. The Court will also hear a related case brought by Havana Docks Corporation, which is seeking to revive $440 million in judgments against major cruise lines for using Havana port facilities seized during the Cuban Revolution. Both cases test the reach of the Title III Helms-Burton Act (LIBERTAD Act), which allows U.S. nationals to file lawsuits against individuals and entities who “traffic” in property confiscated by Cuba’s government. Since the LIBERTAD Act was passed on March 12, 1996, every U.S. president suspended the implementation of Title III, citing U.S. national interests, until the first Trump administration allowed the provision to go into effect on May 2, 2019.
President Donald Trump Claims Cuba Doesn’t Have Autism Due to Lack of Tylenol
President Donald Trump claimed that Cuba “doesn’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism.” He made the statement during an Oval Office announcement urging pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol (paracetamol), alleging a link between the painkiller and autism. The President pointed to Cuba’s supposed lack of Tylenol and the island’s allegedly low autism rates, as evidence of this connection.
Experts quickly pushed back. Cuban scientist Eduardo López-Collazo, from the Health Research Institute of La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, acknowledged medicine shortages on the island but said it is false to claim there is no paracetamol consumption. In fact, Cuba’s paracetamol sales have increased since 2021, when the government allowed greater drug imports in response to the pandemic.
As for autism, Cuba has clinics dedicated to treating children with the condition and has run awareness campaigns. Reported prevalence is lower than in many developed countries—0.36 cases per 10,000 people compared with 1 in 31 U.S. eight-year-olds in 2022—but experts stress this reflects differences in awareness, healthcare access, and diagnostic practices. They caution that Cuba’s figures likely understate the true prevalence, making the President’s comparison misleading.
Cuba’s Government Calls on the UN to Stop U.S. Militarization of the Caribbean
Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, called on the United Nations to prevent the United States from provoking a war in the Caribbean. His remarks came as the US deployed ten F-35 stealth fighters to Puerto Rico and increased surveillance flights in the region, moves Washington says are aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks.
Rodríguez rejected that explanation, accusing the US itself of being a center for “money laundering of foreign assets that originate from transnational organized crime, fundamentally drug trafficking.” Speaking in Havana during Cuba’s annual campaign for a UN resolution against the U.S. embargo, he urged the international community to safeguard peace in the region. He argued the increased U.S. military presence in the region is intended to “create conditions to justify military action against Venezuela.
The warning comes amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, one of Cuba’s closest allies. The Trump administration sent a confidential notice to Congress this week determining that the US is engaged in a non-international armed conflict with drug cartels that are labeled as terrorist organizations by the Administration. The notice describes the U.S. force’s recent attacks on Venezuelan boats allegedly tied to drug smuggling as part of a sustained, active conflict instead of isolated acts of claimed self-defense. However, the designation of the drug cartels as terrorist organizations does not grant extra legal authority to use military force. The standard practice in these drug smuggling cases has been for the Coast Guard to interdict boats, seize the contained drugs, and arrest and prosecute the individuals.
”The Administration’s argument that the attacks are lawful is built on suspect legal ground, as legal experts said that drug cartels are not engaged in “hostilities,” the standard in armed conflicts for legal purposes. Moreover, conditions needed to constitute a non-international armed conflict under international humanitarian law–organized non-state parties, and sufficiently intense violence between parties–have not been met.
Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, Dies at 88
Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, has died at 88 years old. Cabrisas served as Deputy Prime Minister since 2019, and had earlier served as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Economy and Planning. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist party of Cuba.
Known as a veteran negotiator in economic affairs, Cabrisas was an active participant in efforts to promote agreements and economic relations with allies such as Russia and China, as well as negotiating debt concerns with the Paris Club.
Recommended Reading, Viewing, Events:
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Read | OnCubaNews: Deportan desde EEUU a México a cubano que secuestró un avión hace más de 20 años
Read | BBC: Cuba's tourism minister insists sector 'alive and kicking' amid crisis
Read | New York Times: For Many Cuban Ballet Dancers, Forging a Path Forward Means Leaving
Watch | Zeteo: Cuba Is ‘Very Worried’ About a Looming U.S. War With Venezuela
