by Jacob G. Hornberger

February 2, 2026

It is both amusing and pathetic to watch the tremendous glee that statists and interventionists are experiencing as the U.S. national-security establishment and President Trump tighten the economic noose around the Cuban people in the hope of finally — finally! — ousting the communist regime in Cuba and replacing it with another pro-U.S. dictatorial stooge.

It’s amusing in that the U.S. Empire is partnering with a socialist-communist regime in Venezuela — and a narco-terrorist one at that — in an attempt to bring down the Cuban socialist-communist regime, one that U.S. officials also say is a terrorist regime.

Just think about that for a minute: the U.S. government — our government — is partnering with a terrorist, drug-dealing regime, one whose officials are under official U.S. criminal indictment or official U.S. DEA investigation for illegal drug dealing. Just think about how many Americans have been killed by the illegal drugs that have been shipped to America by this socialist-communist narco-terrorist regime with which the U.S. government is now partnering.

And hey, that’s not me accusing the Venezuelan regime of being a narco-terrorist regime. That’s  the label that the U.S. government itself has put on this regime with which it is now partnering.

Oh, did I mention that this regime is also illegitimate, in that it was soundly defeated at the last presidential election but used the power of its national-security establishment to remain in power? Ironically, it is now using the power of the U.S. national-security establishment to remain in power.

During the entire Cold War racket, when U.S. officials repeatedly said that the Reds were coming to get us, did you ever think for a moment that the U.S. government, led by the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA, would be actually partnering with a Red regime? Yet, here we are — the national-security branch of the federal government and President Trump partnering with the Red regime in Venezuela to oust the Red regime in Cuba.

That’s amusing, but what is pathetic is that the U.S. Empire is targeting the Cuban people with death and economic privation as a way to effect a change in policy of the Cuban government or, better yet, an entire change to a pro-U.S. regime that will loyally obey the orders of the U.S. Empire, as the Venezuelan Red regime is now doing.

Where is the morality in killing innocent people as a way to achieve a political goal? It seems to me that that course of action is not only immoral, it’s also the very essence of evil.

I’m reminded of how Empire officials employed their regime-change sanctions strategy against the people of Iraq. When “60 Minutes” asked U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright whether the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children from the sanctions were “worth it,” she replied that in fact they were “worth it.” By “it,” she meant regime change, the same goal that the Empire has pursued in Cuba for more than six decades and continues to pursue.

Make no mistake about it: There is no upward limit on the number of deaths of innocent people needed to accomplish this goal. Whatever number of lives that must be sacrificed to take down the Cuban communist regime, so be it. Anyway, keep in mind: These are Cuban lives, not American lives. In other words, their lives don’t count.

In my book, all this is not only extremely immoral, it’s also quite evil.

There is an important point to note about this immorality and evil: In the long relationship between the U.S. Empire and Cuba, it has always been the Empire that has been the aggressor. Cuba has always been the defender. In fact, when Martin Luther King, Jr., described the U.S. government as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, he had to be thinking not only about Vietnam but also Cuba.

After all, think about the CIA’s repeated assassination attempts against Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Those were nothing more than attempts at legalized murder, especially since the CIA had immunity for any homicides it committed in the name of “national security.”

Think about the CIA’s unprovoked (and unsuccessful) deadly and destructive invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Think about the Pentagon’s repeated efforts to pressure President Kennedy into attacking, bombing, and invading Cuba, including during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Think about the acts of U.S.-sponsored terrorism inside Cuba that killed innocent people.

The Cuban communist regime, on the other hand, has never committed any violent act against the United States. In fact, it has always just wanted to be left alone. But the U.S. Empire would not leave Cuba alone. It still won’t leave Cuba alone. Example: The longstanding, ongoing, never-ending, perpetual economic embargo and sanctions against Cuba, which involve criminal prosecution to anyone in the world, including Americans, who violate them.

An interesting sidelight to this phenomenon of incessant imperial violence and aggression is that over the years, U.S. government employees have been caught “spying” for Cuba and prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated. But presumably their only real crime was to secretly advise Cuba of acts of aggression that were being planned by the U.S. Empire so that the Cuban people could better defend themselves. For that, they were berated as “bad” people even though the officials who were punishing them were part of an entity that was involved in deep immorality and evil.

Why the obsessive-compulsive mindset toward Cuba? Possibly because it’s a communist regime and there are still people within the U.S. deep state who are still convinced that the Reds are coming to get us. But then, why the partnership with the Red regime in Venezuela? Indeed why the good relations with Vietnam, whose communist forces killed more than 50,000 American soldiers? Why the love affair with the dictator of North Korea, one of the most brutal and ruthless communists in the world? Wouldn’t you think that if a regime is genuinely anti-communist, it would be consistently anti-communist?

This obsessive-compulsive disorder certainly can’t be because of some great concern for the freedom and well-being of the Cuban people, given that they are being targeted as the sacrificial lambs in this deadly regime-change operation.

My hunch is that the obsessive-compulsive mindset goes back to the humiliating defeat of the U.S. national-security establishment at the Bay of Pigs, the repeated failure to assassinate Castro, and the refusal of President Kennedy to succumb to the pressure that was being placed on him to launch a full-scale military invasion of Cuba. Empire officials, statists, and interventionists have never gotten over the fact that their aggression has never achieved regime change. Notwithstanding the end of the Cold War in 1989, they have never given up and are now convinced that if they can just inflict a bit more death and suffering on more innocent Cubans, “victory” will finally be theirs.

Side note: This week, we are launching my new multipart podcast series entitled “The Evil Within.”