1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose the Trump administration's oil blockade against Cuba, which is creating a humanitarian disaster that contradicts American values and international law. The January 2025 executive order imposing tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil has proven devastatingly effective. Mexico, which replaced Venezuela as Cuba's largest oil supplier in 2024, has ceased all tanker shipments. All three airlines flying tourists from Canada suspended services this week due to lack of aviation fuel, followed by two Russian airlines. Three-quarters of a million Canadians visited Cuba in 2025, and they are now being repatriated. The UK Foreign Office has adjusted its travel advice to recommend only essential travel. At a January 28 party, US charge d'affaires Mike Hammer told guests that while Cubans have complained about the blockade for years, "now there is going to be a real blockade." This admission reveals the deliberate nature of a strategy designed to starve the country until people take to the streets, allowing US intervention. The humanitarian consequences are already severe. The UN World Food Programme's Country Director Étienne Labande reports they are seeing impact on fresh produce availability in cities and are drawing up plans for a larger crisis. Diplomats warn that lack of fuel for electricity, water, and food transport could cause extreme suffering in a matter of weeks. The WFP's efforts to relieve suffering from Hurricane Melissa are being hampered by fuel shortages. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico warned of a humanitarian disaster and called the sanctions "very unfair." Starving 11 million people to achieve regime change is morally indefensible and violates international humanitarian principles. I urge you to publicly oppose this oil blockade, support legislation to lift these sanctions, and advocate for diplomatic engagement rather than collective punishment of the Cuban people.