Activists tell Congress to stop applying unilateral coercive measures and lift the blockade on Cuba. Photo: Jill Clark-Gollub.
By Jill Clark-Gollub – Apr 26, 2026
This spring constituents and grassroots organizations have been raising awareness in Congress and in public forums of the harms caused by Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs or “sanctions”). Sanctions have become the “go-to” foreign policy tool of the United States government, now impacting a quarter of the global economy and one-third of the world’s population. These measures cause an average of 564,000 deaths around the world annually—comparable to the toll from armed conflict—mostly among children under 5 years old.
On April 22 Congresswoman Delia Ramírez (D-IL) hosted a Congressional briefing on “Humanitarian Impacts of Economic Sanctions, Cuba as a Case Study,” with three outside experts: Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic Policy, co-author of the largest study ever conducted on the impacts of sanctions on mortality; David Paul, co-founder of the SanctionsKill campaign, retired nurse practitioner, and co-author of a letter from health workers to Congress about child deaths from sanctions; and Danny Valdes, co-founder of Cuban Americans for Cuba, who shared the perspective of bi-national families impacted by the longstanding and escalating US blockade of Cuba.
Economist Weisbrot said that 71% of the world’s broad economic sanctions are imposed by the United States. These unilateral measures violate international law by deliberately targeting civilian populations for collective punishment in the hope of bringing about regime change, and may even constitute war crimes. In addition to his global study, Weisbrot has compiled research which found US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry caused the worst depression in world history outside of wartime, leading to 40,000 excess deaths in just one year, from 2017-2018. And current data on Cuba shows a strained health system and deteriorating health indicators, such as a doubling of infant mortality over the past eight years due to the tightening of the US blockade.
David Paul painted a devastating picture of life in Cuba under escalated coercive measures, especially the fuel blockade which is causing massive power outages and disrupts transportation, the production and distribution of food, refrigeration, water and sanitation, and the operation of ambulances and life-saving medical equipment. He said this is not an embargo, but an actual blockade of the island. “People in the US government make the false claim that ‘Cuba can buy all the medicines wherever they want.’ It’s a total lie, when in reality all their banking transactions are blocked. [The US] will threaten and punish any corporation—domestic or international—or government, that trades with you. But you are free to buy!” More pregnant women are starting prenatal care late and suffering from malnutrition, which results in premature births and low birth weights. More babies are at risk of dying from congenital malformations because of the shortage of functioning diagnostic equipment like ultrasounds needed to detect them. Half of all essential medicines are no longer available in the country, as Cuba cannot even import the raw materials needed to keep its pharmaceutical industry afloat. Children are dying from treatable cancers due to lack of medicines, and physicians are hand-pumping ventilators for their patients when the lights go out. Heartbroken Cuban doctors tell parents, “We know what medicine your daughter needs to treat her cancer, we know where it is, but we can’t get it because they won’t sell it to us.” One parent asked, “Why is the President of the United States deciding whether my son lives or dies?”
Valdes reported an exponential deterioration of conditions on the island between his visits in October 2025 and March 2026, due to the lack of fuel, such as health problems caused by uncollected garbage in the streets of Havana. He says that some blame Cuba exclusively for these troubles, but one cannot deny the role played by US policy. Cuban Americans are impacted because they cannot easily visit relatives or efficiently send them remittances, which can make the difference “between eating and not eating; between accessing medicines and going without.” He noted that the Florida International University poll, running since 1991, reports that 52% of Cuban Americans support the embargo, yet 70% also support the sale of medicine to Cuba. This shows they are not actually in favor of maximum pressure policies.
The host of the briefing, Congresswoman Ramírez, is a strong proponent of respectful and constructive US foreign policy. She and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) are the leading co-sponsors of H.Res. 1056 which calls for a reset of US relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, including the end of all unilateral economic sanctions, such as the Cuba embargo. During her opening remarks, the Congresswoman indicated that from Monroe to Trump, US interventionism has left a legacy of destruction and distrust, which never leads to peace and democracy. She founded the Global Migration Caucus in recognition of the fact that what US interventionism actually produces is forced migration.
Congress is gaining awareness of these unjust policies. A growing number of lawmakers are not only working to constrain the threat of military force against Cuba (H.J.Res 153 and H.R.8103), fifty of them signed a statement condemning the ongoing blockade and several have endorsed legislation to end it (H.R.7521/ S.136). Could it be that lawmakers are finally listening to the demands of the American people to end the longest blockade in history? Over the years, solidarity groups around the United States have passed hundreds of local resolutions—in their city councils, churches, and unions—calling for an end to the blockade. Ever more people are gaining awareness of its cruelty and are moved to act. During its 1000 White Coats on The Hill for income tax day 2026, Doctors Against Genocide pushed legislation to lift the blockade and insisted that Cuba be allowed to import medical supplies. And Members of Congress are even using the proper terminology, calling for an end to “coercive economic measures,” a form of “cruel collective punishment.”
We must take advantage of this moment to grow the movement to expose the human cost of sanctions and work to end them. Popular education materials on the SanctionsKill website, such as the Sanctions Toolkit and a forthcoming powerpoint on UCMs and child health, can be used to educate our communities and government officials. A SanctionsKill statement there explains the difference between coercive measures and the global BDS movement. And a recent webinar titled “Sanctions Undermine Children’s Right to Health” uses Cuba and Venezuela as case studies to illustrate these impacts. The discussion called for a new approach to human rights, such as the Peoples-Centered Human Rights framework. The webinar recording can be accessed here.
As stated in the Letter calling on Congress to end child-killing sanctions, signed by representatives of SanctionsKill, Doctors Against Genocide, National Single Payer, and 200 other health workers, “Imposing collective punishment on the innocent is morally reprehensible. It must stop.” Join the fight to end Unilateral Coercive Measures by contacting AmericasWithoutSanctions@gmail.com, a project of the SanctionsKill campaign.
JCG/OT
