Pregnant Women, Children, and the Elderly at Risk Due to the U.S. Oil Blockade of Cuba

While legacy media in the U.S. ignore the plight of the Cuban people due to U.S. actions, it’s up to diehard independent journalists to bring you the truth

Photo by Laura Fonseca on Unsplash

In late January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency to justify imposing additional unilateral sanctions on the already economically embargoed Cuba. The measure, which is nothing short of a naval blockade, is meant to starve Cuba of access to oil, which the country relies on to power its electrical grid, water systems, its transportation sector, and more. With the economy all but coming to a halt, shortages have led to fuel rationing measures, extended blackouts, and crippling food distribution across the island.

Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health is reporting that more than 32,000 pregnant women face increased risks in priority maternal care, such as ultrasounds. The Cuban government also expects to see “limitations in the mobilization of commissions for the care of extremely severe maternal morbidity and critical neonates,” alongside delays in childhood vaccinations. The blockade also risks the lives of children with special needs requiring “home ventilation, mechanical aspiration, and air conditioning, among other problems.”

Over 61,000 children under the age of one who require specialized care are expected to be significantly impacted. Emergency services are already facing disruptions. Ambulances and medical transport services for urgent care are experiencing delays that are only expected to grow. Human rights experts at the United Nations condemned Trump’s executive order, calling it a “serious violation of international law and a grave threat to a democratic and equitable international order.”

“It is an extreme form of unilateral economic coercion with extraterritorial effects, through which the United States seeks to exert coercion on the sovereign state of Cuba and compel other sovereign third States to alter their lawful commercial relations, under threat of punitive trade measures,” the UN experts said.

Declaring Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States is baseless. UN Experts agree that accusing the country of supporting “transnational terrorist groups,” an idea concocted by Cuban American hardliners, lacks any credibility. It’s a manufactured narrative, much like the many we saw seemingly created out of thin air about Nicolas Maduro. It’s a strategy outlined decades ago against the Cuban government that is still in broad use today against many countries whose populations refuse to bow to the U.S.

“In the absence of authorisation from the United Nations Security Council, the executive order has no basis in collective security and constitutes a unilateral act that is incompatible with international law,” the UN experts said. “There is no right under international law to impose economic penalties on third States for engaging in lawful trade with another sovereign country.”

While Cuban hardliners in the U.S. celebrate the naked assault against 11 million Cubans, most legacy news media outlets have so far ignored or glossed over it. Many participated in the escalation against Cuba. The New York Times finally called it what it is: a blockade. But the article focused on oil tanker movements rather than the impacts on everyday Cubans, thus ignoring those who are intentionally being put at the greatest risk.

As legacy media ignore Trump admitting that his actions are creating a “humanitarian threat in Cuba,” the island nation is preserving its bilateral agreements by continuing to accept deportation flights from the U.S. to Cuba and its long-standing counternarcotics and counterterrorism efforts with the United States.

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I’m an independent journalist digging deeper into the stories you see or don’t see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, Orinoco Tribune, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.