Miguel Díaz-Canel received four Democratic legislators from the United States House of Representatives on July 11, in a meeting that the Presidency of Cuba shared this Tuesday through its social media channels.
The delegation was comprised of Teresa Leger Fernández from New Mexico; Delia Catalina Ramírez from Illinois; Maxine Elizabeth Dexter from Oregon; and Mark Pocan from Wisconsin. The four congress members stayed on the island from July 9 to July 13 on a research mission.
On the Cuban side, Díaz-Canel was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío.
According to the official account of the Presidency, the legislators toured various sites in Havana and "interacted with different sectors of society."
The regime stated that this experience "allowed them to observe the harmful effects of the economic blockade" —a term used by the authorities to refer to the U.S. embargo— and that at the meeting "they discussed the potentials of a possible respectful relationship between the two countries".
Upon returning to Washington on July 13, the four congress members issued a statement in which they described the situation in Cuba as a "silent Gaza," a phrase that Pocan attributed to a Cuban he spoke with during the visit, referring to outages that exceed 20 hours daily in much of the territory.
In that document, lawmakers expressed that the maximum pressure policies of the Trump administration exacerbate the suffering of the most vulnerable Cubans and called on Washington to initiate serious negotiations, lift sanctions, and allow the entry of medicines and medical equipment.
This is the second visit by Democratic representatives to Cuba in less than four months. In April, Díaz-Canel received Congress members Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson, who described energy sanctions as an "economic bombardment."
The trip in July takes place during a moment of acute energy crisis. Days before the arrival of the delegation, Cuba experienced its third nationwide blackout of the year, with a generating capacity of barely one-third of the demand.
The Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against Cuba since January 2026, including Executive Order 14380, which declared the island an "unusual and extraordinary threat."
Pocan has a background in this type of political dealings. In December 2022, he visited Cuba along with James McGovern and Troy Carter, met with Díaz-Canel, with families of the prisoners from the 11J protests, and called for the release of non-violent demonstrators.
Meanwhile, Delia Ramírez led in May 2026 a letter from 32 Democratic legislators addressed to Secretaries Hegseth, Rubio, and Mullin, demanding a change in Washington's policy towards Havana.
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