Is the revolution in Cuba over?

Is the revolution in Cuba over?

Author: BBC World Service March 22, 2026 Duration: 24:05

Cuba is facing one of its most severe humanitarian crises in decades.

For years, Cuba relied heavily on oil from Venezuela. Those supplies have largely stopped, contributing to widespread fuel shortages. Electricity blackouts have become increasingly common, disrupting daily life across the country.

The United States has blocked fuel shipments to Cuba as part of wider pressure linked to its economic and political policies. Meanwhile, the Cuban government has warned it will resist any external interference in its domestic affairs.

With economic strain growing and living conditions worsening, this week on The Inquiry, we’re asking: ‘Is the revolution in Cuba over?’

Contributors

Lillian Guerra, professor of Cuban and Caribbean history at the University of Florida, US

Ricardo Torres, research fellow at American University, US

Christopher Sabatini, senior research fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, UK

Renata Segura, programme director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group, US

The Inquiry gets beyond the headlines to explore the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world, for more episodes, just search 'The Inquiry' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Matt Toulson Researcher: Evie Yabsley Editor: Tom Bigwood


From the BBC World Service comes The Documentary Podcast, a series dedicated to immersive audio storytelling that explores the intricate layers of our global society. This isn't about quick news summaries; it's about settling in for a deep, thoughtful listen that brings you directly to the source. Each episode is built around the voices and experiences of people living the stories we often only see in headlines. You might find yourself on the road with Canada’s Sikh truckers, examining the far-reaching implications of China's overseas investments, or standing with communities on the front lines of the climate emergency. The production takes you into the minds of creative thinkers and follows profound personal journeys, all crafted with the BBC's renowned journalistic depth. For anyone with a curious mind looking to uncover hidden truths and make better sense of our complex world, this podcast offers a vital, human-centered perspective. It represents the best of documentary storytelling, where every narrative is an opportunity to listen, learn, and connect to the wider human experience far beyond the daily news cycle.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Documentary Podcast
Podcast Episodes
India’s Shadow Children [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:19
Stephanie was brought up in France in a French family, but her birth parents are Indian – she’s an intercountry adoptee. In the 1980s and 1990s thousands of babies, like Stephanie, were adopted from India into white, wes…
Kubra Khademi: Art of strength and survival [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
On a busy street in Kabul, a young artist steps into traffic wearing a steel sculpture she has shaped around her breasts and buttocks. She calls the piece Armour. Within minutes, a crowd gathers. Days later, death threat…
Elana Meyers Taylor: A 20-year journey to gold [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:49
Elana Meyers Taylor became the oldest-ever winner of an individual Winter Olympic gold medal when she won the women’s monobob event in Milan-Cortina, aged 41. It was the American’s sixth Olympic medal, and first gold, ha…
Eighty years of the BBC Russian Service [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
The BBC's Russian service marks its 80th anniversary this week. In eight decades, it has grown from a short wave radio service to a multimedia operation reaching upwards of 6 million people per week, despite ongoing bloc…
Bombings in Lebanon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:13
Lebanon’s citizens are again caught under fire. As many as a million people are displaced as they search for a place of safety and there are fears of a major humanitarian crisis. The attacks are being carried out by Isra…
Deaf Umrah [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:28
Islamic religious practice is deeply entwined with sound, from the call to prayer to memorising the Quran; learning to recite the holy text is very much an oral tradition relying on listening and repetition. All this pos…
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest~serving PM [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:48
Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving prime minister. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1949, the year after the State of Israel was founded. One of three brothers, Netanyahu spent much of his early years in the United…
Madagascar: From famine to hope [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:17
Lying off the south-eastern coast of Africa, Madagascar has been pushed into crisis by a deadly combination of climate change, poverty and environmental degradation. In 2021, more than 1.6 million people faced acute food…
Billion dollar babies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:58
Eels are a popular food in parts of Asia, but they can’t be commercially bred in captivity. Coupled with trade bans to protect the highly endangered fish, this has led to baby eels becoming one of the most trafficked cre…
The Romeros: Developing digital games [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:50
Brenda and John Romero are towering figures in modern game development, creators whose work has shaped how millions of players experience digital worlds. From their base in Galway on Ireland's west coast, the couple cont…