Millions of children know her simply as Ms. Rachel. To them, she is the beloved teacher who helps them sing, speak and learn. But she has also shown millions of adults what it looks like to stand up for children.
With extraordinary courage and compassion, she has used her platform to stand with Palestinian children. And we love her for that.
That’s why we are asking for her help. There are children just 90 miles from the United States whose stories we almost never hear. In Cuba, children are suffering shortages of food and medicine, long blackouts that affect their ability to learn. They are living every day with the consequences of a U.S. blockade they had absolutely no role in creating.
Please join us in asking someone we deeply admire, Ms. Rachel, to include Cuba’s children in her work and help their voices reach millions more people.
👉🏼 Sign our letter to Ms. Rachel.
Personal Note from Medea
I’ve been travelling to Cuba for decades, and every time I go, I am struck by the enormous distance between the way Cuba is talked about in Washington and the lives of the people who actually live there.
In Washington, I confront lawmakers who talk endlessly about communism and dictatorship as they defend sanctions and blockades. But when I go to Cuba, I meet the people living the consequences of those policies.
I meet mothers trying to find medicine for their children. I meet doctors desperately trying to save the lives of babies but lacking the tools they needs. I meet families organizing their day around blackouts and shortages.
And I meet children.
Children who laugh, play, sing, dance, dream and deserve every opportunity we want for our own children. They did not create this conflict yet they are suffering the consequences.
That is why Ms. Rachel’s work has moved me so deeply. She understands what many people in Washington don't. That behind every war and every sanction are human beings. She has shown courage in listening to Palestinian children and making space for their voices when doing so was neither easy nor without consequences. She has faced attacks, accusations and threats for simply refusing to look away.
I hope she will now bring that same courage to Cuba’s children. Please sign our petition to Ms. Rachel.
News and Analysis
✦ Trump and Rubio are tightening the screws on Cuba AGAIN. On August 20, the administration slapped new sanctions on Cuban officials and nine entities in the mining, metals and construction sectors. Rubio is selling this as another attack on the Cuban government, but economic warfare doesn’t stay neatly contained in government offices. It makes an already brutal blockade even harder for ordinary Cubans to survive.
✦ Cuba is being forced into the dark. This month, Cuba suffered another nationwide blackout, and some families have endured outages lasting days. The Trump administration’s oil blockade has drastically restricted the fuel reaching the island, leaving people scrambling to cook, charge a phone or refrigerate food and medicine during tiny windows when the electricity comes back. This is what “maximum pressure” looks like in someone’s home.
✦ Rubio finally said the quiet part out loud: “There are no escape valves.” In an August interview about his Cuba strategy, Marco Rubio described an escalating U.S. pressure campaign designed to leave the island with “no escape valves.” Think about what that means for 10 million human beings. You cannot economically suffocate an entire country and pretend the pressure will somehow touch only the government. When Washington closes every “escape valve,” it is Cuban families who are left searching for food, fuel and medicine.
More steps to stand with Cuba
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