Cuba

Sanctions and frozen funds hang in the balance as US-Iran peace talks continue, while Cuba runs out of fuel amid tightening sanctions and growing threats of military action.

The US unleashes “Operation Economic Fury” and blockade against Iran as sanctions on Venezuela are eased and Democrats push back on Trump threats of military action against Cuba.

Cuba’s infant mortality rate has risen by 148 percent since 2018, indicating a severe deterioration in population’s overall health. The unparalleled hardening of US sanctions during the first Trump administration, largely maintained under the Biden administration and further expanded in a second Trump term, including a devastating fuel blockade, is the primary cause of the current economic and humanitarian crisis—widely considered the worst in the island’s contemporary history.

US sanctions and the ongoing blockade of Cuba are causing deadly shortages and harming civilians, potentially qualifying as war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention. New legislation and legal debates are now challenging the constitutionality and human cost of these measures.

Trump administration allows limited Iranian and Russian oil sales, and eases certain Venezuela sanctions. Meanwhile, the US blockade on Cuba chokes the island’s economy and population, a policy that recent polling indicates many US Americans oppose.

In a new piece in Foreign Policy, Guillaume Long and Alexander Main warn that the Trump administration’s escalating pressure campaign against Cuba could produce a crisis that could prove harmful to both the Cuban people and US interests.

Trump’s oil blockade fuels a crisis in Cuba as the US and Israel strike Iran. Trump eases sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sectors, while Canada relaxes sanctions on Syria. The EU fails to adopt its 20th package of Russia sanctions.

Humanitarian aid is not enough to save Cubans from the deadly impact of Trump’s oil blockade, however. They, and we, need more solidarity. Trump is threatening the whole world in order to use economic violence against Cubans.

Trump eases some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector while maintaining the naval blockade and threatening tariffs on countries shipping oil to Cuba. Treasury Secretary Bessent says protests in Iran were sparked by sanctions-fueled economic crisis. 

The following resource is intended to aid policymakers and advocates in understanding US sanctions policy and its lethal and humanitarian consequences.