ACERE Demands, After Six Months of Oil Blockade, It’s Time to Engage

June 29, 2026

The Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect (ACERE) calls attention to the severe humanitarian consequences of six months of systematic restrictions on Cuba’s access to imported fuel, among other maximum pressure measures imposed by the Trump administration.[1] With only one Russian oil tanker reaching Cuban ports since December —when a de-facto oil blockade was imposed— major fuel shortages have led to prolonged nationwide blackouts and severely disrupted hospitals, schools, water systems, transportation, and food production and distribution. These shortages are resulting in significant civilian hardships and preventable deaths.[2] The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that the sanctions are “endangering lives,” citing shortages of medicines, medical supplies, healthcare services, food, electricity, and clean water, and has called for the measures to be lifted.[3] Experts have likewise warned that broad U.S. sanctions restricting civilian access to essential goods and services, including healthcare, are contributing to preventable deaths, as reflected in the sharp rise in infant and maternal mortality in recent years.[4]

At the same time, humanitarian organizations have struggled to deliver assistance because of fuel shortages and the sweeping restrictions imposed under the Trump administration’s two Cuba-related Executive Orders (14380 and 14404), together with at least five major rounds of sanctions implemented under their authority—the most significant tightening of U.S. sanctions on Cuba in decades.[5] By extending pressure beyond the traditional embargo through secondary sanctions on foreign companies, banks, insurers, shipping firms, and investors that do business with key sectors of the Cuban economy, the administration has driven many of the remaining major foreign businesses from the island. Companies and service providers—including Meliá, Iberostar, Blue Diamond, Visa, Mastercard, airlines, shipping companies, and financial intermediaries such as Visa and MasterCard—have reduced or ended their operations in Cuba, affecting not only state enterprises but also thousands of private businesses that depend on tourism, international payments, imports, transportation, and logistics.[6]

As a result, Cuba is experiencing one of the deepest economic contractions in the Western Hemisphere, with the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projecting another year of sharp economic decline following several years of recession.[7] Rather than encouraging reform through engagement, the Trump administration’s policy of maximum pressure has accelerated the country’s economic collapse by disrupting fuel supplies, foreign trade, investment, and access to international finance at precisely the moment Cuba announced its most ambitious market-oriented reforms since the beginning of the Revolution.[8]

Despite inflicting extraordinary and senseless hardship on the civilian population, the current strategy has failed to produce the political outcome its advocates predicted. Beyond localized expressions of frustration over prolonged blackouts and deteriorating living conditions, Cuba has not experienced the nationwide uprising that proponents of “maximum pressure” anticipated, while international and domestic criticism of U.S. policy has grown.[9] UN human rights officials, governments around the world, humanitarian organizations, religious leaders, and a growing number of voices in the United States—including Members of Congress—have warned that the fuel blockade is imposing disproportionate suffering on civilians. Depriving an entire country of access to fuel is widely recognized as one of the most coercive forms of economic warfare because it undermines the essential infrastructure needed to sustain civilian life.

After six months of escalating pressure, it is time to acknowledge that the current extreme pressure strategy is neither achieving its objectives nor serving the interests of either the American or Cuban people. ACERE urges the Trump administration and its State Department to engage seriously with the Cuban government, and pursue genuine negotiations that address our differences while advancing shared interests in legal migration, regional stability, security and prosperity.

For more information, contact: allianceforcuba@acere.org .

[1] ACERE Statement “ACERE Condemns Trump Administration’s Latest Efforts to Cause Collapse in Cuba,” May 22, 2026. https://acere.org/acere-condemns-trump-administrations-latest-efforts-to-cause-collapse-in-cuba/ .

[2] The survival rate for children with cancer has fallen to 65% from 85% before the energy restrictions began in January. Over 100,000 Cubans are on waiting lists for surgery and the treatment schedules of nearly 3,000 patients requiring kidney dialysis have been disrupted. https://apnews.com/article/cuba-us-oil-embargo-blockade-healthcare-6fa86704197b96be84372ef84fdf474f

[3] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “U.S. sanctions against Cuba are endangering lives and must be lifted,“ June 8, 2026. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/us-sanctions-against-cuba-are-endangering-lives-and-must-be-lifted

[4] There are estimates that approximately 1,800 excess infant deaths in Cuba from 2019–2025 associated with intensified sanctions since the first Trump administration. “US Sanctions and the Sharp Rise in Infant Mortality in Cuba,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 27, 2026. https://cepr.net/publications/us-sanctions-and-the-sharp-rise-in-infant-mortality-in-cuba/

[5] The World Food Program stopped plans to purchase 3,000 tons of food “because we cannot find a shipping solution to bring it to Cuba”…it’s also trying to find ways to pay for fuel it used to buy from private companies because it can no longer pay with Visa or Mastercard.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/world/americas/cuba-hotels-economy-trump.html

[6] The New York Times, “As Trump Toughens Rules on Cuba’s Economy, Hotel Chains Pull Out,” June 4, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/world/americas/cuba-hotels-economy-trump.html; The Wall Street Journal, “Foreign Businesses Are Fleeing Cuba as Its Economy Collapses,” June 7, 2026. https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/foreign-businesses-are-fleeing-cuba-as-its-economy-collapses-f9b369bf

[7] ECLAC, Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2026, https://www.cepal.org/en/publications

[8] The New York Times, “Under U.S. Pressure, Cuba Rushes Drastic Economic Overhaul,” June 24 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/world/americas/cuba-economy-overhaul-communism-trump.html

[9] The Guardian, “No electricity, no gas, no sleep: Cubans on edge amid endless outages,” June 8, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/08/cuba-power-outages-electricity. Reuters, “How Cubans keep going, despite US pressure and fuel blockade,” June 3, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-cubans-keep-going-despite-us-pressure-fuel-blockade-2026-06-03/

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