Cuba on the Brink: Ada Ferrer on Life Under US Pressure

Ada Ferrer won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for her acclaimed book, Cuba: An American History, which examined the island’s relationship with the US.

Her latest work, Keeper of My Kin, tells her family story: a mother who fled the island nation carrying an infant daughter, while leaving a brother behind.

Now, as Donald Trump increases pressure on Cubans and their leaders, cutting off oil while obtaining an indictment of Raul Castro for the 1996 shootdown of a small plane, Ferrer tells Mishal Husain about the human cost of Cuba’s long crisis.

03:26 - Writing “Keeper of my Kin”
04:09 - A love-hate relationship with Cuba
05:40 - The Cuba of Castro
07:11 - Leaving Cuba in 1963
08:13 - Leaving her brother Poly behind
12:08 - Letters from Poly
15:48 - Cuba’s history of migration
17:58 - Helping family in Cuba
22:50 - People in Cuba are “suffering”
24:01 - A threat to US national security?
26:51 - A shared experience with Rubio
32:19 - Cuban-Americans and Trump
34:04 Obama’s visit to Cuba
37:52 - Calling myself an American
39:52 - The books is a “testament of love”

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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