Calls to End the U.S. Embargo on Cuba Grow After Power Outages
After Cubans suffered at the hands of the U.S., many are demanding an end to its unilateral embargo of Cuba
For more than 60 years, Cubans have suffered under a U.S. embargo of Cuba with hundreds of sanctions crippling Cuba’s growth. On Wednesday, The United Nations General Assembly held its yearly vote to condemn the unilateral oppression of Cuba by the United States. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. and Israel voted against the condemnation as they have both done for decades.
Causing the suffering of more than 11 million Cubans has been comical to Department of State (State) staff under every president. On Monday, State Spokesperson Matt Miller laughed in response to a question from a reporter about the UN vote during a press briefing. They not only don’t take it seriously but seemingly find joy in the oppression of people who do not want to join their club.
The embargo is a form of collective punishment against Cubans for not following along with U.S. plans to help it overthrow the Cuban government – to seize control of the country’s resources and extract its wealth.
It should be noted that the way Israel treats Palestine and the U.S. treats Cuba is eerily similar and Cubans are aware of this. Cubans and Palestinians have an intricate connection - with few exceptions - that can't be explained in mere words and very few in the U.S. are aware of it. Because of this, for most Cubans, the U.S. voting against Palestine at the UN comes as no surprise.
The United States has attempted countless terrorist attacks on the island, assassinations, a failed war, and many efforts to incite Cubans to overthrow their government. Cuba, like Palestine, is also occupied. While not nearly as extreme as Israel's current genocide of Palestinians, the policies and attitudes toward both countries have always been the same.
It’s about colonization for both countries and nothing else.
Even so, Cuban suffering is simply shrugged off even when its antiquated power grid fails due to the limitations imposed on the island by the United States. Then again, when have the U.S. government and high-ranking government officials ever cared about genocide? The United States is responsible for killing more people than any other country in history. Its population remained silent even after it was found that the U.S.-led coalition in its so-called war on terror killed more than 4 million innocent people in the Middle East.
Not to mention the estimated tens of millions killed during the colonization of Indigenous lands, South African apartheid, and the colonization of Africa and Latin America – all of which the U.S. had a hand in and still does today.
What Cubans Are Saying
Photojournalist Francisco Lozano and I contacted sources on the island to ask how things were going. I will not cite my sources due to fears of retribution expressed by those I spoke to because some have family members imprisoned by the government and others have been subject to harassment from Cubans in the U.S.
Lozano’s sources, however, were open to being quoted as long as they remained anonymous. Here’s what three of them had to say:
“We are in the same place with people who are more than stubborn up to their necks. I haven't learned anything new. It’s all very ugly and horrible.”
“All of Cuba is in a blackout. Of course, this is a motherfucker.”
“It’s terrible. Police are everywhere. We’ve been without power for a few days. Everyone’s food is spoiled. The water is contaminated. In my house, everything is ruined. All my food has gone bad.”
Lozano and I have worked together on articles about Cuba in the past. He has made trips to the island in recent years and was there in 2023. The island suffered and was blocked from receiving any assistance, including vaccines, from the outside world. Cuba then created its own vaccine and has since shared it with the world for free.
“I think that the embargo is doing what it was meant to do; that is to keep people in poverty to create chaos,” Lozano told me. “The pandemic made things worse. There is a great lack of food and medicine. The power outages have exacerbated the crisis. It is outrageous that the current administration is keeping in place sanctions imposed by Trump. The embargo must be lifted.”
Cuba has not only suffered under a decades-old embargo but former president Donald Trump imposed hundreds of additional sanctions just as Cuba’s economy was growing thanks in large part to former president Barack Obama normalizing the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. That President Joe Biden has kept Cuba on the State Sponsor of Terror list speaks to the history of the bipartisan nature of the inhumane treatment of Cubans.
Despite the whole world consistently voting for the U.S. to lift the sanctions on Cuba since 1992, president after president has committed to violating international law in isolating Cuba from the rest of the world and blocking it from world markets, access to cash, and even denying U.S. farmers from selling food to Cuba despite U.S. farmers asking the government to allow them to.
While the U.S. and Israel consistently vote against humane solutions such as lifting the sanctions on Cuba, it’s worth noting that calls to lift the embargo are also growing in the United States. From bipartisan groups of lawmakers to advocacy groups and even regular people on social media using the #DropTheBlockade hashtag, many are demanding an end to the sanctions and normalizing the relationship between the U.S. and the island nation.
As the U.S. and Israel grow more isolated with each passing year, the two countries standing out on this issue (as they do so many others), isn’t helping their position on the geopolitical stage.
Some of the Dozens of Speeches at the United Nations Against the U.S. Embargo of Cuba
Brazilian Ambassador to the UN Mauro Vieira
Mexican Ambassador to the UN Juan Ramón de la Fuente
UN Resolutions to Lift the Embargo on Cuba
I’m a freelance journalist. Find my work at Latino Rebels, Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp
All that green for votes from the UN is so bittersweet
Hard to put a “like” on this, but thank you for your reporting