U.S. Continues to Exert More Pressure on the Cuban People

The Trump administration wants to maintain a campaign of collective punishment with polices that haven't worked in more than 65 years

In June, after much pressure from the United States, Cuban American hard-liner, Rosa María Payá, was voted into the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Payá, who backs “maximum pressure” campaigns against Cuba, runs media outlet CubaDecide, which is funded by groups that are funded by the U.S. government.

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CubaDecide receives funding from organizations such as the Victims of Communism Memorial Fund and the Center for a Free Cuba. The former is partially funded by grants from Heritage Foundation of Project 2025 fame, while the latter receives government funding primarily from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which has been linked to the overthrow of governments. The NED, technically a private group, is primarily funded by the U.S. Congress.

The OAS is officially a regional forum for foreign policy analysis leading to decision-making in the Western Hemisphere. It was created in 1948 by countries in the Americas who signed the OAS Charter in Bogota, Colombia. While the agency boasts that its essential purpose is driven by four pillars, democracy, human rights, security, and development, the U.S. has historically weaponized the agency against Latin American countries.

The appointment of Payá was just that. The U.S. essentially bullied OAS representatives after an independent report on each candidate showed that “the candidate [Payá] demonstrated limited substantive knowledge of the norms, jurisprudence, or doctrine of international human rights law.” According to the Cuban government, the U.S. blackmailed representatives into voting for her by threatening to cut off partnerships with member nations.

“Despite the dignified, courageous, and legitimate stance of numerous governments in Our America, multiple pressures and threats, including blackmail claiming the United States would cut budgets for cooperation programs in the hemisphere, led to the narrow election of the notorious mercenary Rosa María Payá Acevedo as Commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” reads a atatement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Shortly after Payá’s nomination, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other government officials, restricting visas for them and their families. Those sanctions against the Cuban president have resulted in Cubans being denied visas despite winning the Diversity Visa lottery. Applicants are reportedly being denied because they worked for the Cuban government, the island's largest employer.

The visa suspensions stem from an executive order, which prevents the issuing of visas to people from countries that Trump claims don’t share sufficient security information about their citizens. The visa lottery is scheduled to end on September 30, and Cuba is not on the list of eligible countries in 2026. This means that Cubans trying to use their visas, obtained precisely as they were asked to, may never get an opportunity to do so.

This comes after many athletes have been denied visas, and the U.S. government targeted Cuba’s Medical Missions in other countries by threatening any leaders who accepted the help of Cuban doctors. This added pressure from the United States continues despite international pressure from all but two countries (the U.S. and Israel) to end the unilateral embargo of Cuba.

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Meanwhile, Cuba spoke out against terrorist attacks by the U.S. on the island, of which at least two were averted last year by Cuban military and intelligence services. While legacy media largely ignored this story and didn’t name the people behind the planned attacks, I did and used their pictures taken from their social media pages on Facebook. On Thursday, Cuba delivered to the Secretary General of the United Nations a list of people and entities involved in carrying out acts of terrorism.

“Cuba delivered yesterday to the Secretary General of the United Nations an update of the National List of persons and entities that have been subjected to criminal investigations and are wanted by Cuban authorities for involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of acts of terrorism carried out in the national territory or in other countries.”

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Josefina Vidal, told state-run media outlet Granma that "the impunity with which terrorist groups have operated for over six decades [against Cuba from the U.S.] is largely a consequence of the inaction, complicity, and lack of commitment from the U.S. government." Vidal added that the attacks are "aimed at harming the security and integrity of the Cuban people, as well as our institutions and facilities, both in Cuba and abroad."

“The new list, published in Resolution No. 13 (2025) and in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba, includes 62 persons born in Cuba, but not residents, and 20 terrorist entities, by virtue of Resolution 1373 (2001) of the UN Security Council, International Law and the domestic legal system,” said Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle, from the Ministry of the Interior. Four deceased persons have been removed from the list, and five new individuals and one organization have been added.”

It’s worth noting that this type of collective punishment, along with the unilateral sanctions on Cuba meant to starve the people, are violations of international law and have been condemned by most of the world. If you want to debate which country is more oppressive, the U.S. or Cuba, I started that discussion many years ago, and reemphasized it last year.

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Arturo is an independent journalist whose work can be found at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.