Dear First Lady Biden, Vice President Harris and Speaker Pelosi,

We are writing to urge you to change U.S. - Cuba policy and help Cuban families. As you know, the 60 year U.S. embargo hits Cuban women and vulnerable populations hardest. According to a 2021 Oxfam report, women in Cuba carry the heaviest burden of sustaining daily life and the U.S. embargo increases their stress, lowers their quality of life, limits opportunities, and causes material shortages.  

Seven years ago, the Obama administration began a process of thawing relations with the Cuban government. This policy was wildly popular in the United States, in Cuba and throughout the world. Dr. Biden, you were welcomed with open arms during your visit to Cuba and saw firsthand the excitement of this rapprochement. Please speak up for a return to the Obama-era approach.

The Trump administration undid this thaw and set relations back considerably after applying 243 sanctions against Cuba - many of them during the pandemic - as part of his “maximum pressure” policy. Speaker Pelosi, it is within your power to draft and introduce a bill to eliminate the Trump Cuba sanctions, including the ban on remittances and limits on travel, which sanction not only Cubans, but U.S. citizens. 

The Trump sanctions hit Cuba’s energy, finance and tourism industries hardest, leading to blackouts and dire economic conditions that sparked protests on July 11. This year has already seen a significant increase in the number of Cuban migrants who risk a perilous sea voyage from Cuba to Florida. Vice President Harris, one of the root causes of Cuban migration to the U.S. is the embargo, a decades-long policy failure that punishes innocent civilians.   

Dr. Biden, Vice President Harris and Speaker Pelosi, we know that you believe that the United States should not be in the business of harming women, yet current policy towards Cuba does exactly that. Please use your influence to push for a new approach towards Cuba that centers the well-being of women and families. 

Thank you,