This commentary is by Armando Vilaseca, a former commissioner and secretary of education in Vermont. He is the president of the nonprofit Cuban American Friendship Society.
I write this sitting in a darkened room without electricity, illuminated only by a small battery-powered light and the brightness of my iPad. I am in Havana, Cuba, on a humanitarian trip organized by the Vermont-based Cuban American Friendship Society.
I have brought U.S. dollars, medicine, food, school supplies and other desperately needed items to the Cuban people, most donated by Vermonters who have traveled to Cuba and experienced not only the beauty and cultural richness of the island, but also the profound hardships and despair caused by more than 60 years of U.S. sanctions and economic restrictions.
The current blockade of any oil shipments to Cuba, combined with the incompetence and corruption of the Cuban government, has created a devastating reality for ordinary Cubans. In just the past few days, foreign hotel chains have withdrawn from Cuba, European shipping companies have halted shipments to the island, and Mastercard and Visa have stopped allowing foreign-issued credit cards to function here, dealing another major blow to Cuba’s already struggling tourism industry.
Vermont and Cuba share a long history of friendship and exchange. In Cuba, Vermonters are widely known thanks to the work of leaders such as Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Jim Jeffords. Vermont organizations travel to Cuba on sanctioned trips focused on arts, cultural, educational and professional exchanges.
The current situation, intensified by policies championed by President Donald Trump and driven heavily by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, goes far beyond politics. It is cruel and incoherent. Since Cuba does not have an organized resistance movement and there is no leader supported by the people to take the place of the Castro family, the U.S. is powerless to do anything other than lash out at ordinary Cubans.
There is often not enough fuel to operate the power plants, plunging entire neighborhoods into darkness for days at a time. There are few cars on the streets because gasoline costs more than $8 per liter in a country where the average monthly salary is worth little more than $15 in real terms, and inflation has made even that nearly meaningless.
When electricity does return, it often comes in the middle of the night for only a few hours. Families must wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. to cook, wash clothes, charge phones, pump water or complete basic household tasks before the power goes off again.
Hospitals are under severe strain, with limited electricity and desperate shortages of medical supplies. Doctors and nurses often lack necessities such as sutures, bandages, anesthesia, masks, gloves and antibiotics. As a result, illnesses that should be treatable are becoming life-threatening. A country that once had one of the strongest healthcare systems in Latin America is now a shadow of its former self.
Vermonters have shown tremendous generosity to Cuba, donating school supplies, vegetable seeds for farms, medical equipment, computers, clothing and food. The Cuban American Friendship Society has provided schools with donated laptops from Vermont schools, helped outfit computer labs and delivered supplies such as portable ultrasound machines.
U.S. policy toward Cuba is cruel and contradictory. We maintain diplomatic and economic relations with countries around the world whose human rights records are far worse than Cuba’s. We trade freely with authoritarian governments and communist nations elsewhere, yet Cuba remains uniquely punished.
Ironically, some of the strongest support for these punitive policies has come from Cuban American politicians themselves. For decades, Cuban American politicians from both parties have blocked nearly every serious attempt to normalize relations with Cuba.
Many Cuban Americans sincerely want freedom and democracy for the country of their birth. But others have built careers, political influence and financial power around maintaining hostility toward Cuba, regardless of the human cost to ordinary people on the island.
President Barack Obama came closer than any modern president to normalizing relations between our countries. During his presidency, he spoke directly to the Cuban people on national television about hope, reconciliation and a better future. For the first time in generations, many Cubans believed their future was finally going to be better than their past.
That hope disappeared almost immediately after Trump took office. Not only did his administration reverse Obama-era policies, but it also dramatically intensified restrictions. President Joe Biden campaigned on restoring Obama’s approach, but ultimately failed to make any meaningful progress. Currently, Cubans are waiting for Trump to do something short of invasion. They are tired and just want things to change.
A good start would be lifting restrictions on oil imports and removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This designation severely limits the country’s access to international banking and financial systems. Those steps alone could help stabilize basic services and revive tourism, one of the island’s primary sources of income.
But meaningful change will require political courage in Washington, especially from Democrats and Republicans who approach Cuba policy through the lens of the Cold War and Florida electoral politics. The last Democratic president to win significant support among Cuban Americans in South Florida was Barack Obama, the very president who most aggressively pursued engagement and normalization with Cuba.
Perhaps other politicians should learn from that.
