Four lawmakers from the Democratic Party described Cuba as a "silent Gaza" after completing an investigative visit to the island, where they met with the ruling Miguel Díaz-Canel and other regime officials.
Democrats blamed the Trump administration for creating this situation through its energy embargo and maximum pressure policies, and they refrained from mentioning the responsibility that the Cuban regime has in the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Delia Catalina Ramírez (Illinois), Mark Pocan (Wisconsin), Teresa Leger Fernández (New Mexico), and Maxine Dexter (Oregon) held a press conference at the end of their visit on July 13, during which they warned that U.S. pressure is destroying the daily lives of Cubans without any active diplomatic channel to reverse it.
"I don't think negotiations are taking place," Pocan stated when asked about a possible dialogue between Washington and Havana.
The Wisconsin legislator pointed directly at the Secretary of State: "I think Marco Rubio is making this personal and not professional."
To justify the comparison with Gaza, Pocan pointed out that "there may not be bombings, but there are certainly conditions that prevent people from leading their daily lives."
"They cannot go to work, they cannot preserve their food, they cannot access medical supplies, nor live as they did before," he detailed about the situation observed on the island.
The visit comes at a time of unprecedented escalation of U.S. sanctions against the Cuban regime. This Monday, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba — the first time in history that an entire Cuban ministry has been blacklisted — along with state-owned companies Coreydan, Enetec and the Foreign Trade Business Group (Gecomex), among other entities.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has accumulated over 240 sanctions against the regime, including Executive Order 14380.
The Trump administration has been explicit about its goals: to achieve a change of government in Havana. Trump even threatened to send an aircraft carrier to the Cuban coasts and declared that "Cuba will fall pretty soon".
This is the second Democratic delegation to travel to Cuba this year. In April, Congress members Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson made a similar five-day visit, also critical of the oil embargo, which sparked controversy in the United States for not publicly addressing the political prisoners of the regime.
Congresswoman Ramírez announced that she is working on a legislative amendment to prohibit Washington from blocking the entry of medicines and medical equipment to Cuba. This measure, if successful, would mark a turning point in the maximum pressure policy promoted by Trump and Rubio.
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