An urgent appeal to the United Nations, the United States Government, the European Union, BRICS nations, and the international community

Cuba is hurting.

Families are living through prolonged power outages. Hospitals and essential services are struggling. Fuel shortages affect transportation, food distribution, electricity generation, and everyday life. Medicines and essential goods can be difficult to obtain.

Behind every statistic is a human being.

A child.

A parent.

A grandparent.

A health-care worker trying to care for patients.

A family wondering how they will get through another day.

Whatever our politics, this level of human suffering should never be acceptable.

And the world cannot talk seriously about Cuba’s humanitarian and economic situation without talking about the role of the United States embargo and sanctions.

For decades, the United States has maintained sweeping economic restrictions against Cuba. Whatever their original political purpose or the disagreements that continue between the governments of Cuba and the United States, policies must ultimately be judged not only by their intentions but also by their human consequences.

When economic restrictions make trade, financing, investment, energy security, international transactions, or access to essential goods more difficult, ordinary people bear the consequences.

Children do not create foreign policy.

Families do not negotiate sanctions.

Patients in hospitals do not control diplomatic relations.

They should not pay the price for them.

We Call on the United States to Act

We call upon the Government and Congress of the United States to take immediate steps toward ending the economic embargo against Cuba and, at minimum, immediately remove restrictions that obstruct humanitarian assistance, food, medicine, fuel, energy infrastructure, financial transactions, and responsible economic development.

We call for practical measures that make it easier—not harder—for humanitarian organizations, businesses, financial institutions, families, and international partners to provide legitimate assistance and investment to the Cuban people.

After more than six decades, it is time to ask a fundamental question:

How much longer should generations of Cuban people be expected to live under the consequences of a political conflict they did not create?

We Call on the International Community to Mobilize

We call upon the United Nations and its agencies to coordinate an urgent humanitarian response and continue advocating for measures that protect Cuban civilians from economic hardship.

We call upon the European Union and its member states to expand humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, trade, renewable-energy partnerships, infrastructure investment, and responsible economic engagement with Cuba.

We call upon BRICS members and partner nations to mobilize fuel, food, medicines, medical equipment, energy technology, financing, agricultural support, infrastructure expertise, and sustainable investment.

We call upon countries throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the rest of the world to stand with the Cuban people through meaningful action.

Cuba does not need expressions of sympathy alone.

Cuba needs fuel.
Cuba needs medicine.
Cuba needs food and agricultural resources.
Cuba needs reliable electricity.
Cuba needs investment.
Cuba needs access to international commerce and financing.
Cuba needs the opportunity to build a sustainable future.

Human Rights Cannot Be Selective

Supporting the Cuban people does not require anyone to endorse every action of the Cuban government.

Governments can and should be held accountable for human rights.

But human rights cannot become something we defend only when we agree with a country’s politics.

We can advocate for civil and political rights while also defending people’s economic and social rights.

We can call for accountability while opposing policies that deepen civilian suffering.

We can disagree with governments without abandoning their people.

Human rights don’t rank.

The right to dignity matters.

The right to health matters.

The right to food matters.

The right to participate freely in society matters.

And no human being should become collateral damage in a geopolitical disagreement.

The Cuban People Are Not a Political Bargaining Chip

For too long, conversations about Cuba have centred on governments, ideology, history, communism, capitalism, sanctions, and geopolitics.

Put the people back at the centre.

Imagine watching food spoil because the electricity has failed again.

Imagine trying to care for someone when medicine or medical supplies are unavailable.

Imagine trying to get to work when transportation systems cannot reliably operate because fuel is scarce.

Imagine raising children while wondering whether tomorrow will bring electricity, food, medicine, or another shortage.

Then ask whether another generation should have to live this way while the international community debates politics.

Human suffering should never become normalized.

We Demand Action

We, the undersigned, call for:

Immediate humanitarian assistance to Cuba.

Emergency fuel and energy support to protect hospitals, water systems, transportation, food distribution, and essential public services.

Expanded access to food, medicine, medical equipment, agricultural supplies, and other necessities.

Responsible international investment in Cuba’s economy, renewable energy, electrical grid, agriculture, transportation, health infrastructure, and sustainable development.

Removal of U.S. restrictions that prevent or discourage legitimate humanitarian assistance, trade, financing, energy cooperation, and responsible investment.

A path toward ending the United States’ decades-long economic embargo against Cuba.

International cooperation that puts the wellbeing and human rights of Cuban people ahead of geopolitical rivalry.

History Will Remember What We Chose to Do

The world has enough resources to help.

It has the technology.

It has the fuel.

It has the food.

It has the medicine.

It has the financial capacity.

What is required now is the political will to put human beings first.

To the United States: a policy can be changed. Human suffering cannot always be undone.

To the United Nations: use the international community’s collective voice and capacity to mobilize assistance.

To the European Union: expand humanitarian and economic partnership.

To BRICS nations: mobilize resources, investment, fuel, infrastructure, and development cooperation.

To governments everywhere: do not allow political disagreement to become an excuse for inaction.

And to people around the world:

Stand with the Cuban people.

Not because you agree with a government.

Not because you subscribe to an ideology.

But because they are human beings.

A Cuban child deserves the same human dignity as every other child.

A Cuban family deserves the same hope for tomorrow as every other family.

A Cuban life is not worth less because of geography or politics.

Human rights don’t rank.

Human dignity has no borders.

Sanctions should never condemn generations of ordinary people to hardship.

Solidarity is a verb.

Sign this petition.

Sign for the families living through this crisis.

Sign for humanitarian assistance without political barriers.

Sign for an end to policies that deepen civilian suffering.

Sign because after more than six decades, another generation should not have to wait.

Cuba cannot wait.
The Cuban people cannot wait.
It is time to act.