2025 was a defining year for Cuba. A year of intensified U.S. pressure and extraordinary solidarity, inside the island and beyond.
This Belly of the Beast 2025 News Recap brings together the moments that shaped Cuba’s year, told through the voices of those who lived it.
This year, we covered:
•Trump returns to power and reactivates hardline policies toward Cuba
•Thousands of Cubans are deported from the United States, including mothers expelled without their children
•Marco Rubio and U.S. officials escalate rhetoric and actions against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua
•Cuban athletes denied U.S. visas, missing tournaments and Olympics qualifiers
•Cuba’s U-20 soccer team makes history
•Hurricane Melissa devastates eastern Cuba, and Cubans rally together in response
•Cubans react to Zohran Mamdani
•Public health in crisis amid dengue, chikungunya and medical shortages
•Mass demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine and Venezuela
•U.N. vote: 165–7 against the U.S. blockade
