Hands Off Cuba: End the Siege Now

I am writing to demand immediate action to end the United States’ cruel economic war on Cuba. The Trump administration’s oil blockade is not policy sophistication. It is collective punishment. People’s World warned on February 23 that Congress must intervene to stop a “full-scale oil blockade” and the humanitarian crisis it is creating. Since then, Cuba has suffered a major blackout amid fuel shortages and tightened U.S. pressure, and Reuters reported on March 9 that students at the University of Havana staged a rare protest over worsening energy and internet disruptions. This suffering is not accidental. Jake Johnston warned on Democracy Now! on March 6 that Cuba is being targeted as part of a broader U.S. strategy to revive a Monroe Doctrine-style sphere of domination in Latin America. That is exactly what this is: economic strangulation, coercion, and contempt for sovereignty dressed up as foreign policy. President Trump’s own words have made that intent even clearer. On February 27, he raised the prospect of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.” Then on March 16, Reuters reported that he said he expected to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form” and added, “I can do anything I want” with the country. That is not diplomacy. It is naked imperial arrogance and an open threat against Cuban sovereignty. Congress must stop being complicit. I urge you to act now to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, where it currently remains; end the blockade; end the occupation of Guantánamo; respect Cuba’s sovereignty and stop all U.S. regime-change efforts; support H.R. 7521, introduced on February 12 to repeal the statutory basis for the embargo; support S. 136; and support H.Res. 1056, the New Good Neighbor resolution rejecting Monroe Doctrine aggression. For decades, U.S. policy toward Cuba has inflicted hardship on ordinary people while solving nothing. Now it is worsening blackouts, shortages, and instability while the president openly fantasizes about taking possession of another nation. This is immoral, abusive, and indefensible. End the siege. End the blockade. Hands off Cuba.