With all the problems facing the U.S. today, Cuba is probably not on many people’s radar. Some Americans may remember the Bay of Pigs in 1961 and the 1962 missile crisis, and, more recently, the Mariel boatlift of 1980, the 1999 saga of Elián González or Obama’s historic visit to Cuba in 2016. While U.S.-Cuba relations may be ignored by most, we should be concerned about the impact of our current policies on the Cuban people, a population only 90 miles away from our border.
I recently spent 10 days visiting the country as part of a “Support for the Cuban People” tour permitted by the U.S. government. Even though I am generally knowledgeable about international affairs, I was not aware of the suffering of regular Cubans, in part due to long-standing U.S. policies. While the Cuban government damaged the economy with heavy-handed government controls during the Cold War, limited agricultural diversification and an overwhelming economic reliance on the former USSR, since the early 1990s, Cuba has been economically weakened by continuous sanctions and blockades implemented by the U.S.
I can understand the reasons for these sanctions during the Cold War, but why are we still punishing the Cuban people? I saw farmers plowing their fields with oxen, farmers taking their products by horse and cart, and people putting up with innumerable blackouts due to energy shortages. Our group met with dozens of regular Cubans, and everyone had personal stories of suffering: limited food, collapsing infrastructure, hospitals empty of medications and, simply put, no money to advance their well-being.
While the U.S. imposed sanctions immediately after the Cuban Revolution, more recent policies have only worsened the suffering. In 1992, the Cuban Democracy Act restricted U.S. visitors to Cuba. The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 ratcheted up the sanctions by placing penalties against companies from any other country that do business with Cuba. This means that internationally operating companies have to choose between Cuba and the U.S.
Although the U.S. has an embassy in Havana, Trump does not allow Cubans to obtain a visa in Cuba, they must travel to a third country to apply for one. Under Trump, the U.S. reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. He also created a list of Cuban enterprises that cannot be used by U.S. citizens. Trump has also allocated over $22 million to anti-Cuba organizations in the U.S. Additionally, Trump placed crippling financial restrictions on the country. The U.S. prohibits U.S. persons and entities from engaging in direct financial transactions with Cuba. In February, the U.S. government prohibited financial services, such as Western Union, from transferring money to Cuba.
U.S. draconian policies also affect our own country through increased Cuban migration. As suffering continues, migration dramatically increases. Customs and Border Protection encountered an average of over 200,000 Cuban migrants annually from 2022 to 2024, a fivefold increase over 2021. Our policies also have pushed Cuba to deepen their economic ties with China. Out of necessity, Cuba has strengthened diplomatic, commercial and military ties with Russia, including joint military drills in 2024.
Instead of punishing sanctions derived from an outdated ideological worldview, the U.S. should be encouraging Cuba to expand its recent policies of incentivizing the private sector, promoting tourism and developing its basic infrastructure. We met people who are friendly to Americans and who are anxious to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The U.S. already has extensive trade relations with authoritarian governments, including China and Vietnam.
As Utahns, we should want to develop closer economic ties with Cuba, as we have done with many Latin American countries. The time is now for a meaningful change in our policy to Cuba. I encourage Utahns to contact their congressional representatives to revisit our policy.