Four Democratic members of Congress returned from a four-day visit to Cuba with sharp criticism of U.S. energy sanctions. They described conditions on the island as a humanitarian crisis caused by American policy.
The lawmakers, Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, and Delia Ramírez of Illinois, met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials. They said President Donald Trump’s fuel embargo had created severe shortages.
Pocan told reporters that a contact in Cuba had called the situation a “silent Gaza,” a description he called “apt.” He added that residents could not work, preserve food, or access medical supplies as before.
Ramírez accused the United States of “60-year-long imperialistic policies” and an “immoral, inexcusable, cruel blockade.” In a joint statement the group said sanctions were “strangling” Cuba and “killing everyday Cuban citizens.”
The Trump administration defended the measures as pressure on the communist government rather than the Cuban people. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla welcomed the lawmakers’ comments on social media.
