For 64 years, the United States has kept an embargo on Cuba, starting with a proclamation by President John F. Kennedy in February 1962. Many Cubans call it the blockade. In 1996, Congress wrote the embargo into law, which means Congress has to act to end it.

Cubans are living through a deep energy and resource crisis. Since late January, when the White House threatened tariffs on countries that send oil to Cuba, the power grid has been close to collapse. I visited Cuba in March of this year and heard firsthand from pharmacists about how the blockade affects their to receive regular medications including simple painkillers like Tylenol, from hospital directors about how the blockade affects their ability to receive adequate medical supplies like syringes, from bakeries about how the blockade affects their ability to repair their ovens so they can bake bread, from farmers about how the blockade affects their ability to repair tractors,  from schools about how the blockade affects their ability to access pencils, and from families about how the blockade affects their ability to use basic hygiene products.

CBS News reported in October that most places, including Havana, get only a few hours of electricity a day, and doctors at a children's hospital said they can no longer get critical drugs for young patients. On November 5, the State Department cleared the way for new sanctions.

Most of the world wants this to end. On October 28, the United Nations General Assembly voted 130 to 17 to call for lifting the embargo, the 34th year in a row it has done so.

Congress can change this. The United States-Cuba Trade Act would lift the embargo, allow travel and trade, and protect the money families send to relatives in Cuba. Representative Jim McGovern introduced it in February 2026 with 30 cosponsors. Members of Congress, pass the United States-Cuba Trade Act, and when the new Congress begins in January 2027, bring it back and give it a vote. Sign to tell Congress to lift the Cuba embargo.