Hasan Piker is a Twitch streamer. He’s seen the same headlines you have. The ones explaining that after the U.S. took over Venezuela’s oil business back in January, Cuba got cut off. The result has been blackouts and uncertainty.

What’s happening right now is an extreme version of what the United States has been doing in Cuba for years, of course. Using sanctions to control everyday life in a bid to get rid of a repressive communist regime.

It has not worked before. But now, conditions are worse. And Piker wanted to investigate the ways in which the government has engaged in what he calls “economic warfare.” So, he and his group brought things to Cuba that they thought might help: medicine, food, and bicycles.

On a recent episode of What Next, host Mary Harris spoke to Piker about what he saw in Cuba, and who he sees as his audience. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: You got pushback on your trip, as you might expect. Places like Fox News were kind of obsessed with the fact that your group stayed in a five-star hotel, and that you were at the Vanity Fair Oscars party and you flew to Cuba after that. I’m of two minds. I think it’s good to draw attention to the oil embargo that the U.S. has in effect, but also there is an element to what you did that looked from the outside like disaster tourism. Did you grapple with that at all? 

Hasan Piker: Not even a........

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