Original subtitles

today marks 60 years of the full u.s

trade embargo on cuba signed into law by

president kennedy the sanctions were

strengthened by president trump who

banned remittances created hurdles to

tourism and fine companies that

delivered fuel to the small island

nation those strict policies along with

the pandemic contributed to widespread

shortages of food and medicine which

boiled over in a wave of protests last

summer but how are cubans faring today

one year into president biden's tenure

nbc news reporter ed augustine joins us

now from havana ed good morning to you

so we saw striking images of those

protests there last july what is the

situation on the ground now especially

with the pandemic stubbornly sticking

around

well during those dramatic protests last

july cuba was hit by a huge wave of the

delta variant um the pandemic is far

better these days in cuba thanks to

vaccinations cuba has one of the highest

rates of vaccination in the world 88

of adults have now been vaccinated with

home-grown vaccines and that's meant

that with this omicron variant we've

seen far lower levels of both deaths and

infection rates in cuba than in the u.s

and europe however that hasn't

translated into a better economic

situation cuba like many caribbean

islands is highly dependent on tourism

and it's just not coming it's coming

back in dribs and drabs so that main

economic engine of the island

is still underperforming and cubans are

paying for that

uh economically

huge food shortages mammoth queues

outside supermarkets people going

without antibiotics this has become a

horrible reality for most cubans for

almost two years since the pandemic

combined with the u.s sanctions the

economic situation is grim so ed these

trade sanctions have survived 12

presidential administrations becoming

the longest embargo in modern history we

know the obama administration worked to

try and loosen some business and travel

policies a move that was of course not

then supported by the trump

administration so how would you describe

the policy these days under president

biden and what's its impact on everyday

cubans

well i've got an example for you uh two

days ago i spoke to 72 year old retired

armando coyaso and he told us how he

used to receive approximately a hundred

dollars a month from his daughter in

florida but since the trump

administration banned remittances she's

had to look for other routes

and now poor thing she's over there

looking for someone who wants to bring

me something or if someone is coming or

traveling here to bring me something not

as a favor they charge her

they overcharge her to be able to send

me the dollars over here

there are people who do this for a

living

they take american dollars and exchange

them to our currency and bring it here

but those people will stab you in the

back because you realize that they take

an enormous amount of money

they make a huge amount of money by

bringing it here

and armando told us that he's one of the

lucky ones miraculously he said his

daughter has found a way throughout the

pandemic to pay people to bring him

those hundred dollars a month but many

many cubans especially in the provinces

especially in rural areas don't have

that luxury and they've had to go

without that vital economic lifeline

from friends and family in the states

throughout most of the pandemic

all right ed thank you for that report

from havana we appreciate it

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