The Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel welcomed U.S. Congress members Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson, marking the first documented in-person visit by U.S. legislators to Cuba in 2026.
Díaz-Canel announced the meeting through his account on X this Monday and took the opportunity to denounce what he termed the "criminal damage" of the embargo, with particular emphasis on the consequences of the energy blockade imposed by the Trump administration.
"Upon receiving U.S. Congress members Jayapal and Jackson, I denounced the criminal damage caused by the blockade, particularly the consequences of the energy siege imposed by the current U.S. government and its threats of even more aggressive actions," wrote the Cuban leader.
Díaz-Canel also reiterated "the willingness" of his government "to maintain a serious and responsible bilateral dialogue" with the United States and "to find solutions to the existing differences."
Democratic lawmakers Pramila Jayapal from Washington and Jonathan Jackson from Illinois met with Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, and members of the Cuban parliament.
The visit lasted five days, taking advantage of the recess of the House of Representatives. The congress members also met with Cuban families, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, Latin American and African ambassadors, and with Cuban dissidents.
In a joint statement issued on Sunday, Jayapal and Jackson asserted that the United States has prevented a single drop of oil from entering Cuba for over three months, describing it as a "cruel collective punishment," and urged both countries to "immediately engage in real negotiations" by abandoning the "outdated Cold War policies."
The meeting takes place in the context of the highest escalation of bilateral tension in decades.
On January 29, Trump signed Executive Order 14380, which declared the Cuban regime a "unusual and extraordinary threat" and imposed tariffs on those supplying oil to the island, cutting between 80% and 90% of crude oil imports and causing power outages of up to 25 hours a day.
On March 30, Trump temporarily lifted the oil blockade for humanitarian reasons. He allowed the arrival of a Russian tanker carrying about 730,000 barrels of crude oil to Matanzas, although he stated that Cuba was "finished" and that the oil "would not matter" for the regime's collapse.
According to the statement from the congress members, during his visit, Díaz-Canel released over 2,000 prisoners, a gesture interpreted as a sign of openness toward dialogue with Washington. The Cuban government also invited the FBI to investigate a deadly shooting involving a speedboat.
On March 27, Jayapal and Representative Gregory Meeks had introduced the Act to Prevent an Unconstitutional War in Cuba, which blocks the use of federal funds for military actions against the island without Congressional authorization, with 14 Democratic co-sponsors.
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