Cuba Pressure, Abrego Garcia Charges, Cooling Costs

Summary

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Up First from NPR – May 23, 2026

Episode Title: Cuba Pressure, Abrego Garcia Charges, Cooling Costs
Hosts: Ayesha Rascoe, Scott Simon
Duration: ~15 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode examines three pressing news stories:

1. Escalating U.S. pressure on Cuba—with fresh criminal charges against former president Raul Castro—and how Cuba’s government is responding.
2. The dismissal of criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant once prioritized by the Trump administration as a deportation target, amid judicial criticism of the prosecution's motives.
3. Sharply rising electricity costs as summer approaches, with a focus on how Americans—especially in the South—are struggling to keep cool without busting their budgets.

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1. U.S. Pressure on Cuba and Charges Against Raul Castro

Timestamps: 02:23–06:46

Key Discussion Points

• U.S. Actions against Cuba:

  • Criminal charges brought against former Cuban president Raul Castro, accusing him of murder and conspiracy for allegedly ordering the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, killing four.
  • U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz moves into the Caribbean, signaling military readiness.
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio revokes the green card of a senior Cuban official's family member, citing a crackdown on "lavish lives with stolen blood money."

• Cuban Response:

  • Interview with Lianas Torres Rivera, Cuban ambassador to the U.S., who asserts Cuba’s resolve to defend sovereignty and describes Raul Castro as “the living history of the Cuban revolution and is someone that is sacred for Cubans.” (03:47)
  • Rivera insists Cuba does not want war: “Cuba is a country of peace. Cuba is not a threat to the U.S. Cuba wants only to have a future that is decided by the Cubans without interference.” (02:45)
  • Emphasizes that Cuba’s political system is off the negotiating table: “There are red lines regarding our independence, our sovereignty, our right to self-determination … political system that won’t be never on the table as we don’t ask the U.S. to put on the table your political system.” (05:59)

Notable Quotes

• Eder Peralta (NPR Correspondent):
  “The United States seems to be pulling out all the stops to bring the Cuban government to the table... Of course, the biggie was that the U.S. brought criminal charges against Raul Castro... still arguably the most powerful man in the country.” (03:09)
• Lianas Torres Rivera (Ambassador):

  “We will defend Raul as we will defend sovereignty and independence till the end.” (04:37) “We are ready to sit and engage with the U.S. to talk about bilateral issues... [but] legal order, political system ... won't be never on the table.” (05:59)

Memorable Moments

• Thousands rally in Havana near the U.S. embassy with chants of “Viva Raul” and “Patria o muerte” (Homeland or death), underscoring Cuban unity behind leadership. (06:26)

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2. Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case Dismissal

Timestamps: 06:54–10:43

Key Discussion Points

• Background:

  • Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant, was deported by the Trump administration despite a court order, then forcibly returned after Supreme Court intervention; was charged with human smuggling.

• Judicial Ruling:

  • Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the criminal charges, finding a “presumption of vindictive prosecution” given the 2.5-year delay between the alleged offense and the charges being filed—coinciding with the administration's embarrassment over the court’s order to return Abrego Garcia.

• Government Reaction:

  • DOJ plans to appeal; DHS calls the decision “naked judicial activism.”
  • A prosecutor in the Nashville U.S. Attorney’s office resigned in protest over the push to prosecute.

Notable Quotes

• Judge Crenshaw (via Mariana Bacallau):

  “[There is a] presumption of vindictive prosecution... not enough evidence for it to be definite that the government’s actions were a form of retaliation, but enough to drop the charges.” (08:34)

• Scott Simon:

  “The judge also warned the Trump administration not to publicly comment on Abrego Garcia’s case as if he had been convicted since under the law, he's innocent until proven guilty.” (09:33)

Memorable Moments

• Coverage of ICE agents lingering outside courthouse, raising questions about the government’s intentions during trial proceedings. (09:33)

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3. Rising Summer Electricity Costs

Timestamps: 10:53–15:02

Key Discussion Points

• Soaring Prices:

  • Since 2019, electricity up 39%; up 6% in the past year alone.
  • Southern U.S. consumers face double-digit percentage jumps in summer utility bills.

• Causes:

  • Higher natural gas prices, infrastructure improvements for grid resilience, and escalating demand from AI-driven data centers.
  • Federal assistance has not kept pace; funding for aid programs has stagnated.

• Personal Impact:

  • Interviews with Robin Westphal (Houston-area teacher), who has invested in a generator to avoid blackouts but faces $300+ monthly bills.
  • Matthew Kolb (Arkansas), who donates plasma weekly to afford $250/month electricity, straining to provide for his young family in the face of soaring living costs.

Notable Quotes

• Scott Horsley (NPR Economics Correspondent):

  “Electricity prices have been rising faster than inflation... Overall power prices are up about 6% over the last year, up 39% over the last five years. So every kilowatt costs you more.” (11:24)

• Mark Wolf [National Energy Assistance Directors Assn.]:

  “It's not just food, it's not just the cost of rent, but now it's the cost of electricity that families are struggling with.” (11:58)

• Robin Westphal:

  “We ended up buying a generator... but we did have to spend money so that we could survive in the heat if the power grid goes off.” (13:06)

• Matthew Kolb:

  “We have two kids under two... higher utilities in the summer always kind of stretches us a little bit and makes budgeting a little more of a complicated feat.” (14:15)

Memorable Moments

• “About 13 million Americans fall so far behind on their power bills that the electricity is temporarily turned off,” with many resorting to payday loans just to restore service. (14:33)

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Episode Takeaways

• Diplomatic Tensions Rise: The U.S. intensifies diplomatic and legal pressure on Cuba, provoking fierce Cuban nationalist rhetoric and reaffirming red lines on sovereignty.
• Vindictive Prosecution Scrutinized: The high-profile dismissal of charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia spotlights potential political motivations behind immigration prosecutions.
• Cooling Becomes a Luxury: As electricity costs skyrocket and federal support stagnates, many low- and middle-income Americans face tough financial and lifestyle choices just to stay cool this summer.

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Transcript

[Ayesha Rascoe]

The White House made him the face of its deportation campaign.

[Scott Simon]

And now a federal judge in Tennessee has dismissed the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

I'm Ayesha Rascoe.

[Scott Simon]

And I'm Scott Simon. And this is up first from NPR News.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

The judge said the prosecution was vindictive and singled out the acting attorney general for criticism.

[Scott Simon]

We have details also what Cuba's diplomatic representative to the US has to say about Washington's demands for her country, our

[Lianas Torres Rivera]

independence, our sovereignty, our right to self determination, a legal order, political system that won't be never on the table, and

[Ayesha Rascoe]

a look at electricity rates as we enter warmer weather.

[Scott Simon]

So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend.

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[Ayesha Rascoe]

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[Ayesha Rascoe]

with Cuba and the pressure the US Is bringing to bear on Havana. Washington has announced criminal charges against former President Raul Castro at the same time a U.S. aircraft carrier was moving through the Caribbean.

[Scott Simon]

Speaking to NPR, the Cuban ambassador to the United States, Lianas Torres Rivera, says Cuba does not want a war with the United States.

[Lianas Torres Rivera]

Cuba is a country of peace. Cuba is not a threat to the U.S. cuba wants only to have a future that is decided by the Cubans without interference.

[Scott Simon]

NPR international correspondent Eder Peralta is covering it all. Eder, thanks so much for being with us.

[Eder Peralta]

Hey, good morning, Scott.

[Scott Simon]

Please begin by reminding us with some of the details about what's happened so far this week.

[Eder Peralta]

Yeah, I mean, the United States seems to be pulling out all the stops to bring the Cuban government to the table. They're showing their military muscle with the arrival of the aircraft carrier Nimitz to the Caribbean. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also introduced measures targeting US Resident family members of senior Cuban officials. In one prominent case, he revoked the green card of the sister of a senior military official who oversees ga and that's a Cuban military owned conglomerate. And he said that the days of families of regime leaders leading lavish lives with, quote, stolen blood money are over. Of course, the biggie was that the US Brought criminal charges against Raul Castro, the former president of Cuba and the man who is still arguably the most powerful man in the country. The US has accused him of murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that in 1996, when Raul Castro was defense minister, he ordered the downing of two civilian aircraft flown by the Miami based Cuban American group Brothers to the rescue. Three U.S. citizens and a U.S. permanent resident were killed.

[Scott Simon]

When ADA when we said at the top, Cuban ambassador tells NPR, that means she told you that Cuba doesn't want interference. What else did she have to say?

[Eder Peralta]

Ambassador Lianes Torres Rivera started by pointing out that these planes were not merely humanitarian. She said, and this is true, that they had been violating Cuban airspace for years.

[Lianas Torres Rivera]

Will the US Will allow a single airplane flying Washington City, for example? The US Government knew what was going to happen and did nothing to prevent that. Army General Raul Castro is a leader of the Cuban revolution, widely respected, admired, is the living history of the Cuban revolution and is someone that is sacred for Cubans. We will defend Raul as we will defend sovereignty and independence till the end.

[Scott Simon]

Words like living history and sacred for all Cubans doesn't sound very negotiable.

[Eder Peralta]

Yeah, I think that's right. And I think when the ambassador says we will defend Raul Castro until the end, we have to think about Venezuela. The United States indicted former President Nicolas Maduro before they sent US troops to swoop in and depose him by bringing him to a jail in New York. And the Cuban government has said over and over that all of these actions by the United States are not about democracy in Cuba, that they're not about seeking justice. They've said these actions are about justifying a military intervention. So I asked the ambassador what is Havana willing to put on the table to keep something like that from happening? You're ready to negotiate on everything, including what the US has been asking for for decades, multiparty system. More recently, a change in presidency.

[Lianas Torres Rivera]

We are ready to sit and engage with the US to talk about bilateral issues. There are red lines regarding our independence, our sovereignty, our right to self determination, a legal order, political system that won't be never on the table as we don't ask the US to put on the table your political system, your legal system, because that's up to the American people.

[Eder Peralta]

And you know, that message was reinforced in Havana. On Friday, the Cuban government gathered thousands of supporters near the US Embassy. Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel was there. And they chanted viva Raul and Patria o Muerte, which, which translates to homeland or death.

[Scott Simon]

NPRZeta Peralta, thanks so much.

[Eder Peralta]

Thank you, Scott.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

The criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia are dismissed. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran immigrant the Trump administration wrongly deported last year.

[Scott Simon]

The federal judge in Tennessee who made the order yesterday described the Trump administration's criminal charges as, quote, and abuse of prosecuting power. Member station WPLN's Mariana Bacallau joins us. Thanks for being with us.

[Mariana Bacallau]

Thanks for having me.

[Scott Simon]

And remind us, please, what were the charges standing against Abrego Garcia?

[Mariana Bacallau]

The Justice Department had charged him with human smuggling around this time last year after Abrego Garcia had won his deportation case. That was when the Supreme Court ordered that he be returned to the US after the government deported him despite a court order to keep him in the country over fears of gang violence in his native El Salvador. When he got back, Abrego Garcia was immediately taken into custody. Those criminal charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop here in Tennessee. In body camera footage played for the court, Abrego Garcia can be seen driving an SUV with nine other men. Prosecutors pointed to that as evidence of human smuggling, alleging that Abrego Garcia was paid to drive people who had crossed the border into Texas. Abrego Garcia's lawyers argued that the government's criminal case was retaliation because of the embarrassment it caused the Trump administration. After he won his deportation case, he became a sort of galvanizing force for critics of the president's hardline immigration policy. His lawyers asked the court to dismiss the charges under a vindictive prosecution claim,

[Scott Simon]

and the judge apparently agreed.

[Mariana Bacallau]

I would say yes and no, but it's more yes and maybe. Essentially, the court found that there was a presumption of vindictive prosecution that means not enough evidence for it to be definite that the government's actions were a form of retaliation, but enough to drop the charges. In his ruling, Judge Waverly Crenshaw took issue with the timeline in particular. So again, Abrego Garcia was pulled over in 2022, but the government didn't file charges against him until nearly two and a half years later, when it became clear the Trump administration had to bring him back to the U.S. at that point, according to internal memos from the Justice Department, the case became top priority for the DOJ. And one prosecutor high up in Nashville's U.S. attorney's office asked the DOJ not to prosecute and ended up resigning in protest.

[Scott Simon]

Marana, you've been covering this case since last year. Did you see any signs the judge would rule this way?

[Mariana Bacallau]

Judge Crenshaw asked tough questions of both sides in court, but he seemed skeptical of prosecutors going back and forth on whether they wanted to keep Abrego Garcia in the US to face trial or just deport him. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were parked outside the courthouse for most of the hearings. A decision on where he would go pending trial dragged out for months because the DOJ said they had no control over what ICE would do and whether he would be deported before trial. The judge also warned the Trump administration not to publicly comment on Abrego Garcia's case as if he had been convicted since under the law, he's innocent until proven guilty.

[Scott Simon]

And how's the government reacted to the ruling?

[Mariana Bacallau]

The Justice Department plans to appeal, and DHS in a statement said this decision is, quote, naked judicial activism. As for Abrego Garcia, he currently stands to be deported. His lawyers are fighting a separate immigration case that will determine where he's deported.

[Scott Simon]

Mariana Bacallau with our friends at member station WPLN in Nashville. Thanks so much.

[Mariana Bacallau]

Thank you.

[Scott Simon]

Finally, on the podcast, this Memorial Day weekend, summertime cooling during an affordability crisis. The price of electricity is climbing as we enter months of warmer weather that points to sharply higher utility bills.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And that's especially true in southern parts of the country, where bills are expected to jump by double digits. NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley joins us now. Welcome to the podcast, Scott.

[Scott Horsley]

Good morning, Aisha.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

So what's driving that climb in electricity costs?

[Scott Horsley]

It's really a one, two punch. Electricity prices have been rising faster than inflation. Overall power prices are up about 6% over the last year, up 39% over the last five years. So every kilowatt costs you more. Then on top of that, many families are likely to use more kilowatts this summer because forecasters are predicting hotter the than usual weather. Mark Wolf runs the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. He says his members are increasingly hearing from middle income families who are having trouble with their utility bills.

[Scott Simon]

I think this ties into the broader issue of affordability. It's not just food, it's not just the cost of rent, but now it's the cost of electricity that families are struggling with.

[Scott Horsley]

The federal government does have a program to help low income families cover their utility costs, but the funding for that program has been flat for the last three years. And with electricity prices climbing rapidly, the aid money just doesn't stretch as far as it used to.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And why is electricity itself so expensive?

[Scott Horsley]

Well, again, it's kind of a combination of factors. Part of it is the cost of natural gas, which is a main fuel for generating electricity that's gone up. Part of it is utilities trying to harden their power grids to handle more extreme weather. And part of it is the fast growing demand for electricity from all those power hungry data centers that are springing up as a result of the artificial intelligence boom. I talked to Robin Westphal, who lives about halfway between Houston and Galveston, near the hot and muggy Gulf Coast. She has seen utilities trying to beef up their power grid, but she still worries about rolling brownouts that can knock out the power for several hours on the hottest days of the summer.

[Lianas Torres Rivera]

And if it's during the day, it's miserable. We ended up buying a generator that's beneficial, but we did have to spend money so that we could survive in

[Ayesha Rascoe]

the heat if we the power grid goes off.

[Scott Horsley]

Westphal is an elementary school teacher. She says her summer electricity bills last year were above $300 a month and she's bracing to pay even more for power this year.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

A generator is expensive and that would be on top of regular power bills. What have people told you about how they're handling these costs?

[Scott Horsley]

Well, in Westfall's case, she and her husband are cutting corners elsewhere, maybe not going out to eat as often. They're keep an eye on their grocery bill. She says she might have to skip that gallon of Blue Bell ice cream that she would like. I also spoke with Matthew Kolb, who lives in northwest Arkansas. His wife and older daughter really struggle with the heat there. So they do try to keep the house cool, even though last year that meant paying about $250 a month for electricity during the summer. Now Kolb has a full time job and he's in the army reserves. But money is tight. So he's taken to donating plasma a couple of times a week just to help pay the bills.

[Scott Simon]

We have two kids under two between keeping them in diapers, making sure they have food. And with the recent spikes in gas prices, higher utilities in the summer always kind of stretches us a little bit and makes budgeting a little more of a complicated feat.

[Scott Horsley]

One sign of the hardship, every year, about 13 million Americans fall so far behind on their power bills that the electricity is temporarily turned off. Now, some states prohibit shutoffs on the hottest days of the summer, but most states don't have restrictions like that. You know, having your power shut off is really painful, so most people will do whatever it takes to get it turned back on, even if that means missing a payment on some other bill or taking out a costly payday loan.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

That's NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks so much.

[Scott Simon]

You're welcome. And that's up first for Saturday, May 23rd, 2026. I'm Scott Simon.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

And I'm Ayesha Rascoe. Dave Mistich produced today's podcast with help from Diana Douglas, Danica Pineda, and Martin Patience. Our editor was Ed McNulty, assisted by Ariel Plotnick, Tara Neal, Gigi Duban and Raphael Nam.

[Scott Simon]

In the control room today are Director Michael Radcliffe and our technical director, Zoe

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Van Genhoven, who has engineering support from Zach Coleman.

[Scott Simon]

Shannon Rhodes is our senior supervising editor. Our executive producer is Evie Stone. Our deputy managing editor is Jim Cain.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

Tomorrow on the Sunday story, local moves to combat climate change.

[Scott Simon]

So thanks for listening here in the podcast feed. You know, we got so much more for you on your radio.

[Ayesha Rascoe]

To find your local NPR station, just go to stations.NPR.org you won't regret it.

[Scott Simon]

Yeah, while you're still sitting there, go.

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