Hasan Piker's Cuba Mini-Doc: One-Sided Propaganda or Legitimate Critique of US Embargo?

Hasan Piker (HasanAbi/HasanTheHun), a left-wing streamer and political commentator and nephew of Cenk Uygur, a founder of The Young Turks media group, recently released a short documentary titled “The American War Against Cuba” following his alleged participation in a humanitarian aid convoy to the island nation. While framed as an effort to highlight the impacts of U.S. sanctions and the long-standing embargo, the mini-documentary has drawn criticism for its one-sided perspective and ideological slant.

Piker traveled to Cuba as part of an international convoy delivering food, medicine, and supplies amid the country’s ongoing energy crisis and blackouts. In the film and related content, he attributes Cuba’s severe economic difficulties—shortages, power outages, and declining living standards—almost exclusively to U.S. policy. He describes the embargo as a deliberate “oil blockade” and “American war” strangling the island, with little exploration of other contributing factors such as the logistical challenges of managing an island economy or the well-documented inefficiencies and governance issues stemming from decades of socialist policies.

Critics point out that the documentary contains no interviews with Cuban citizens expressing criticism of their own government. Instead, the content largely recycles familiar arguments against U.S. sanctions, supplemented by commentary from non-Cubans, including a Palestinian resident and former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Nearly a third of the runtime reportedly shifts away from Cuban voices and conditions altogether. Questions have also arisen about the selective nature of the interviews: whether participants were chosen or influenced in ways that avoided dissenting views, and why no critical clips were included even with basic measures like face blurring.

Viewers note that Piker’s coverage consistently reinforces an anti-American narrative, portraying the United States as the sole villain while downplaying internal policy failures. During the trip, he was seen participating in social activities, including what some described as celebratory scenes amid widespread blackouts. He was also found to be staying in a five star hotel that had a generator while Cuban citizens had no electricity—an optics issue that further fueled accusations of bias over balanced journalism.

A genuine documentary aiming to raise awareness on a complex humanitarian topic would typically present a range of viewpoints, including perspectives from Cuban dissidents, economists, and those who argue that systemic domestic problems play a significant role alongside external pressures. Piker’s work, by contrast, mirrors the style of state-produced media from countries like China and North Korea, which similarly emphasize external blame while avoiding internal accountability.

This propaganda film serves as a reminder of the challenges in trusting overtly ideological voices—particularly those with strong anti-American leanings—to deliver impartial analysis on sensitive international issues like Cuba’s humanitarian situation. While debate over the embargo’s effectiveness is legitimate and longstanding, balanced examination requires acknowledging multiple causes rather than advancing a predetermined narrative.