The Headlines - Inside Trump’s Pressure Campaign on Cuba, and Why Food Banks Are Getting Squeezed

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Plus, Stephen Colbert’s last show.  Here’s what we’re covering: The Indictment of Raúl Castro Is an Extraordinary Escalation of the Administration’s Pressure on Cuba, by Alan Feuer, Frances Robles and David C. Adams Rubio Moves Closer to Decades-Long Goal of Transforming Cuba, by Edward Wong Cuba Says It’s Ready to Negotiate, by Jack Nicas News of U.S. Indictment Slow to Reach Cubans Waiting for a Breakthrough, by Emma Bubola A $5 Million Donation From Big Tobacco Preceded F.D.A. Vape Decision, by Kenneth P. Vogel and Christina Jewett High Gas Prices Are Squeezing America’s Food Banks, by Chris Hippensteel Ebola Outbreak Is Unlikely to Become Global Threat, W.H.O. Head Says, by Lynsey Chutel, Nick Cumming-Bruce and Ephrat Livni Efforts to Contain Ebola May Have Been Hindered by Lack of U.S. Involvement, by Apoorva Mandavilli and Stephanie Nolen End of a Colbert-a, by James Poniewozik Tune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, May 21st, here's what we're covering. Today, we are announcing an indictment, charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. The Department of Justice has announced charges against the former president of Cuba,

94-year-old Raul Castro, in a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration's pressure camp, against the country. If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed. Castro, who's the brother of Fidel, was charged yesterday in connection with a deadly incident back in 1996. That year, the Cuban military shot down a pair of planes operated by an exile group that often

scoured the Caribbean, looking for Cubans who were trying to flee the communist regime. Four U.S. citizens were killed, and for decades, family members of the victims and others called for Castro to be held responsible. Now, the indictment comes as President Trump has openly said he wants to topple the Cuban government. In a press conference announcing the charges, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a warrant has been issued for Castro's arrest. So we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way. This is a major development, frankly, because it has clear echoes of the indictment by the U.S. Justice Department of the Venezuelan leader, Nicholas Maduro.

And that indictment was the basis for President Trump's military operation to go in and snatch Maduro from Venezuela and bring him back to the United States for trial. My colleague Michael Crowley covers U.S. foreign policy. Over the years, President Trump hasn't actually seemed that interested in Cuba. In his first term, he didn't make it one of his big foreign policy priorities. We've seen a real shift in this second term, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that he now has Marco Rubio by his side helping to design his foreign policy. Rubio grew up and started his political career in South Florida, where the influence of anti-Castro regime Cuban exiles is enormous.

And as a United States Senator, there may have been no one as outspoken and determined as Rubio in calling for dramatic change in Cuba, including the fall of the Cuban regime, which he has often described as a dictatorship. And even if President Trump doesn't feel nearly as emotionally invested in Cuba as Marco Rubio does, Trump loves to be able to say that he has done things or solved problems that his predecessors weren't able to do. And if President Trump is able to achieve dramatic change in Cuba, possibly getting rid of the Castro Revolution communist regime that has been there since 1959, I think he would be very, very happy to brag about that achievement that other presidents were not able to accomplish. Meanwhile, on the ground in Cuba, news of Raul Castro's indictment trickled out slowly, in part because of widespread blackouts made worse by President Trump's effective fuel embargo on the country.

Facing those power outages, along with growing hunger and a health care crisis, some Cubans told the times they would welcome an intervention, even a military one, if it would break the status quo. At the same time, Cuba's ambassador to the U.N. said in an interview that the country is eager to continue negotiations with the U.S. about changing its economy and government, but that, quote, building different pretexts for military aggression does not help. Now, two quick updates from the U.S. First, newly released campaign finance documents show that a major tobacco company donated $5 million to a Trump-backed superpack

just before the White House rolled out a policy that could be lucrative for that industry. During that same period, lobbyists and top tobacco executives had lunch with President Trump at one of his golf clubs, according to people briefed on the meeting. They said that during the lunch, the guests complained about how the FDA was regulating the tobacco industry. In the middle of their conversation, Trump picked up the phone and called top health officials to criticize regulations around e-cigarettes. Days later, the federal government issued new guidance that could pave the way for major tobacco companies to sell flavored vapes, which had been banned over fears they could get young people hooked. In response to questions about the timing of the payment and lunch, a spokesman for the White House said, quote,

the only guiding factor behind the Trump administration's health policymaking is gold standard science. And with no end in sight to the war in Iran and the cost of fuel still well over $4 a gallon in the U.S., the country's food banks are starting to get squeezed. As many as 50 million Americans turn to food pantries or soup kitchens every year, and the organizations had already been struggling to keep up with demand mid-rising inflation. Now, the groups say they're being forced to make a painful trade-off, pay for the fuel to deliver food, or pay for the food itself. One food bank in Oregon that supplies pantries across the state

says it's had to budget an extra $20,000 in monthly fuel costs for its fleet of trucks. A food bank network in Montana said it's reducing how much food it orders, and other food banks say they've had to shift what they offer to change. cheaper options, like substituting meat and other protein with low-cost produce. The head of one organization told the Times, its funding, quote, could be going to food for people, but instead it's going into the price of gas. There are several factors that warrant serious concern about the potential for further spread and further deaths.

The head of the World Health Organization is warning that the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa is still not under control. So far, there have been nearly 600 suspected infections, including almost 140 deaths. We expect those numbers to keep increasing, given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected. The outbreak was officially declared about a week ago, but health authorities say that the deadly virus probably started spreading months ago and that many infections may have gone unreported. They say that the risk of a global pandemic is low, but the danger is still high at

the regional level, where cases have been confirmed in major cities in Congo and Uganda. While local health officials have deep expertise on Ebola, experts say the response to this outbreak has been hindered by the Trump administration's cuts to foreign aid. They say that during previous outbreaks, the U.S. had been a big part of tracing early cases of Ebola and rushing medical supplies to the front lines. Now, many health care workers are likely having to treat patients wearing only gloves and surgical masks instead of respirators and face shields. With the world's attention on the crisis, there are signs the U.S. is starting to step up its involvement. State Department announced it's sending more than $20 million of equipment to the region.

One former USAID official told the times that when it comes to this outbreak, quote, were playing catch-up, and so this is going to be a tough one. And finally, the very last episode of the late show with Stephen Colbert will air tonight. The show's cancellation, which was abruptly announced by CBS last year, was described by network executives as a financial decision amid declining viewership for late night. But it immediately set off speculation that politics were involved, and that Colbert, who'd been a vocal critic of President Trump, was being pushed out. It marks for now the end of a more than two-decade TV career for Colbert, who rose to fame playing an alter ego of himself, who was an over-the-top conservative commentator.

This man was able to create one of the most impressive works of performance art in any medium that we've seen at any time, and then move on from that to one of TV's biggest platforms to perform the maybe even more difficult job of learning how to be himself. in public night after night. James Panoazik is the Times chief TV critic. He says Colbert really hit his stride about a decade ago when he took over the late show and Donald Trump became president. He found his voice and his show found his voice at a time when politics was pop culture. And through Trump and then through Biden and then through Trump again,

the late show manages to find a way. to be sort of pointed and topically engaged while also entertaining. And for years, stays the number one rated late night talk show in its time slot. You really see Stephen Colbert presiding over what I would call the peak period of late night political comedy. There are still other people doing it. But it feels with him going like something is ending. It's putting a period on something, even if we don't necessarily know what's coming next.

You know, Stephen Colbert is relatively young in terms of career. We know that his next project is writing a new Lord of the Rings movie script for Peter Jackson. That is about as far as you can get from the petty politics of the real life United States. And, you know, I do not blame him for wanting a vacation. Those are the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest updates and the Friday News Quiz.