What is the U.S. blockade on Cuba?
The blockade is an economic and trade embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba, aimed at preventing the country from engaging in essential trade and transactions. For over 60 years, the U.S. has enforced this criminal and genocidal blockade on Cuba, meant to ‘bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government’. The blockade is not just a policy of inconvenience but a calculated act of economic warfare, designed to strangle Cuba’s economy and deny its people access to essential goods and resources, such as food, medicine, money, materials, etc. - punishing the revolutionary Cuban people for daring to build a world that values humanity over profit. Here are some resources to help us better understand the impact of the blockade:
The blockade aims to isolate Cuba
The U.S. blockade prevents Cuba from engaging in trade, finance, or business with any entity tied to the U.S., as part of its broader imperialist strategy. These sanctions block not only direct transactions but also penalize other countries and companies that do business with Cuba, using U.S. dominance in global finance to isolate the island. This economic warfare cuts off access to essential goods like medicine and food, aiming to coerce Cuba into submission and maintain U.S. control over the global capitalist order. While sanctions are often proposed by imperialist nations as a ‘benevolent’ and ‘targeted’ measure, in reality, they impose widespread economic hardship among the population and hinder access to essential goods and services. Watch this video to learn how the U.S.’s unilateral web of sanctions seek to isolate Cuba from the world.
For more resources to study the U.S.’s sanctions on Cuba, the longest and most extensive system of unilateral sanctions applied against any country in modern history, check on the following:
Helen Yaffe, US Sanctions Cuba ‘to Bring About Hunger, Desperation and the Overthrow of the Government’
Belly of the Beast, The War on Cuba
Since 1961, the blockade has cost Cuba billions of dollars each year
That cost is evidenced today in the shortages suffered by the Cuban people, which include food, medicines, fuels, and means of transportation. For instance, the cost of 25 days of blockade on Cuba is equivalent to the financing necessary to meet the requirements of the country’s National List of Essential Medicines for one year (around USD 339,000,000). Check out the report on how the blockade affects the everyday lives of the Cuban people here.
Every year, the majority of the world condemns the blockade— except for the U.S. and Israel
Every year the United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to condemn the extraterritorial US economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba, citing the blockade’s impact on Cuba’s overall human development. In the latest vote on October 30, 2024, 187 out of 191 member states called for an end to the blockade, with only the U.S. and Israel opposing. Additionally, across the U.S., 112 resolutions, representing over 60 million US people, have now been passed by City Councils, County Boards, State Legislatures, School Boards, Labor Councils, Labor Unions, Workers, and other organizations, calling for the end to the U.S. blockade and the removal of Cuba from the SSOT. You can read more on the UN vote against the blockade here.
The blockade is also enforced through Cuba’s inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list, which brings a wide range of sanctions, financial restrictions, and penalties for people and countries conducting trade with the island. Initially designated as such in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan, Cuba was only removed from the list in 2015 by President Obama. However, in 2021, in his last days in office, Donald Trump tightened the blockade by placing an additional 243 sanctions on Cuba, in addition to redesignating Cuba as a SSOT. Since taking office, Joe Biden, who campaigned on reversing Trump’s policies on Cuba, has kept the SSOT designation, in addition to the majority of the additional sanctions that Trump placed on the island. The designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States deeply harms the ability of the Cuban government and its people from carrying on with the basic functions of life, as the U.S. influence over the global financial system leads banks and traders to avoid business with Cuba out of fear of U.S. retaliation. Less than two months after its implementation, more than 45 banks from several countries interrupted their operations within Cuba. Biden could remove Cuba from the SSOT list with a stroke of a pen, but refuses to do so.
It’s time to take Cuba #OffTheList of SSOT
Cuba's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) has significantly worsened the suffering caused by the U.S. blockade that has been imposed on the island for 62 years. This designation is a key part of the blockade and has contributed to severe shortages of fuel, electricity, and food, making it difficult for the Cuban people to meet basic needs. It’s time to remove Cuba from the SSOT list! Let Cuba live!
People of conscience across the world continue to put pressure on the government of the United States to remove Cuba from the “State Sponsor of Terrorism” list. Recently, a group of nearly 600 parliamentarians from 73 different countries penned a joint letter condemning the continued inclusion of Cuba on the list. Read their letter here
Time and again, Cuba has chosen to stand on the side of the oppressed people, always extending its hand in solidarity to those in need
Since its revolution in 1959, Cuba has been a beacon to all those who strive for a better and more just world – showing the world that education, housing, and healthcare for all is not just a distant dream, but a reality that we can and must fight for. Whether it was sending doctors to fight Ebola in West Africa, mobilizing medical brigades to combat COVID-19, or providing free education to thousands of people across the world—Cuba has consistently prioritized international solidarity. During Hurricane Katrina, Cuba even offered to send doctors to the U.S. to support the working class people of the US who had been abandoned by their own government, but this gesture was refused by the US administration! In struggles for national liberation, such as in Angola and Vietnam, Cuba stood side by side with freedom fighters, offering military, medical, and technical support against colonial and apartheid regimes. Below are further resources to learn about Cuba’s long history of internationalism and the history of the Cuban revolution:
-
-
Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own (link)
Comrade of the Revolution - Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro (link)
On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle by Vijay Prashad and Noam Chomsky (link)
Fighting for Cuba! Fighting for Socialism! And other speeches by Miguel Díaz-Canel (link)
-
-
#LetCubaLive
On Oct 18, 2024, Cuba’s National Electrical energy system faced a total blackout after a power plant suffered an unexpected outage. While U.S mainstream media was quick to point fingers at the Cuban government, it tactfully obscures the fact that the primary challenge for the power grid is limitations in securing fuel and a long-standing fuel deficit due to the web of sanctions and coercive measures imposed on the island by the United States. The blockade not only inflicts an estimated $13 million in daily economic losses but also limits Cuba's access to markets and financial transactions.
We have launched “Let Cuba Live”, an emergency relief fundraiser in light of the electric blackout, hurricane and the 60+ year U.S. brutal blockade, which makes it nearly impossible for Cuba to access essential goods and materials for reconstruction and basic public services. The campaign has already sent two shipments with generators and supplies and is sending another shipment this week. Cuba is now grappling with another wave of blackouts and intense recovery efforts following the landfall of Hurricane Rafael today and we are expanding our emergency campaign. Join us in this urgent effort - donate if you can, and share the fundraiser with your friends and family.