For many Cuban Americans, Cuba is both a homeland and a distant memory — a place bound inextricably to family stories of loss, revolution and exile. Growing up in Miami, the tension between these narratives was ever-present. My family, like so many others, left behind more than just a country; they left behind a piece of their identity, their roots, and the complexity of what Cuba became after 1959. Yet, despite our shared history of displacement, Cuban-American voices are often missing in the broader Cuba solidarity movement. This absence is striking, given how much our unique perspective is needed to push for an end to the U.S. blockade and support Cuba’s right to self-determination.
As a Cuban American and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), I believe that we, as a community, are uniquely positioned to help lead this fight. I understand that for many of us, the idea of joining a socialist organization is daunting, given our family histories. But DSA’s commitment to fighting for justice, both here in the U.S. and in solidarity with movements for sovereignty abroad, makes it the best vehicle for effecting real change in U.S. policy toward Cuba.
When I first joined DSA’s efforts to build solidarity with Cuba, it wasn’t just political alignment that drove me — it was deeply personal. I traveled to Cuba as part of a DSA delegation in October 2023, knowing I was going to encounter contradictions and grapple with the complexity of my family’s history. What I didn’t anticipate was how deeply the experience would challenge my own understanding of what Cuba had become, both in my mind and in reality.
Walking through Havana, I was struck by the resilience of the Cuban people and the overwhelming sense of solidarity that still pulsed through the country’s veins, despite the immense hardships caused by the U.S. blockade. I visited La Lisa, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, and witnessed how community-led efforts were transforming the area, turning it into a beacon of resilience. I couldn’t help but think of my grandfather, who had been imprisoned for “anti-revolutionary activities” by the very Committees for the Defense of the Revolution that now spearheaded these initiatives. This juxtaposition between the pain of my family’s history and the undeniable community spirit in front of me was difficult to reconcile.
The most emotional moment came when I visited my grandmother’s old house in Santos Suarez. As I stood outside, memories of family stories of her departure and the lives that were forever changed flooded my mind. It was a reminder of the personal cost of Cuba’s history, but also of the importance of looking beyond that grief to the larger context of U.S. intervention and economic warfare that continues to shape life on the island.
Despite the complexities and contradictions, one truth became inescapable: the U.S. embargo — what Cubans call el bloqueo — is strangling Cuba’s economy and stifling its future. As Cuban Americans, we cannot ignore this reality. The blockade has shaped every aspect of modern Cuban life, and while Cuba is far from perfect, no meaningful analysis of its struggles can be made without understanding the devastating impact of U.S. policy. If we truly want to see a free and prosperous Cuba, we must unite, and joining the Democratic Socialists of America is one of the most powerful ways to do that.
The Reality of Economic Warfare
Cuba is currently experiencing a near-unprecedented level of economic instability. Inflation is soaring, the Cuban peso continues to depreciate, and the country’s GDP has stagnated. The impact of this can be seen everywhere: in the shortages of basic goods like food, medicine and hygiene products, and in the mass exodus of over one million Cubans, nearly 10% of the population, since 2020. For many, life in Cuba feels dire.
In the U.S., it’s all too easy to attribute these hardships solely to the Cuban government. Critics argue that the shortages and the economic struggles are the result of failed policies under Cuba’s socialist system, dismissing any notion that U.S. foreign policy plays a role. But this narrative ignores an uncomfortable reality: Cuba has been under an economic blockade for over six decades, and it is this campaign of economic warfare, spearheaded by the U.S., that has played the most significant role in the country’s current crisis.
There is no denying that the Cuban government has its shortcomings. Many Cubans are frustrated by over-bureaucratization and inefficient central planning, especially in agriculture. Recent protests have highlighted a growing impatience with these issues. But it is the U.S. embargo that has cast the longest shadow over Cuba’s ability to recover, reform and grow. During its over 60 years of operating as essentially a wartime government, Cuba has had to make decisions that might not have been made under less fraught circumstances. While we don’t have to agree with all of those decisions, it’s critical to understand them in context.
The embargo is not just a relic of Cold War antagonism — it remains a living policy, continually enforced through a complex web of laws, executive orders and sanctions. These policies have been methodically designed to cripple Cuba’s economy, as evidenced by a 1960 memo from U.S. diplomat Lester D. Mallory, which frankly recommended that the U.S. should “deny money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.” That goal has not changed in the six decades since.
What Americans often call the “embargo” is, in fact, a patchwork of laws and sanctions dating back to the early 1960s, after Fidel Castro’s revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. The United States, which at the time controlled vast swathes of Cuba’s economy, including 90% of its mines, 80% of its public utilities and 40% of its sugar production, was not about to stand idly by as Cuba nationalized its resources and charted a path toward self-determination. By 1962, under the Kennedy administration, the U.S. officially imposed a full trade embargo.
Since then, the embargo has been further entrenched through laws like the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which expanded its reach and codified many of the restrictions that prevent the U.S. from normalizing relations with Cuba. The embargo’s reach is global. Through secondary sanctions, like Donald Trump’s re-addition of Cuba to the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list (Obama had removed Cuba from the list during his term), any business that deals with Cuba risks being cut off from the U.S. market. As a result, the embargo does not just stop U.S. trade with Cuba. It also strangles Cuba’s access to the global economy.
This economic stranglehold manifests in countless ways. No ship that docks in Cuba can enter a U.S. port for 180 days, which severely limits Cuba’s ability to import goods. Items with more than 10% U.S. components cannot be sold to Cuba, even from third countries. Medical supplies, food and fuel are all impacted by this policy, driving the shortages that affect every Cuban household. As the United Nations consistently points out in its annual votes against the embargo, this policy is not just a matter of U.S. foreign relations — it is a violation of international human rights.
Some argue that the embargo has been a failure because it has not led to the fall of the Cuban government. But the true goal of the embargo is not to achieve a sudden collapse — it is to maintain a constant pressure that slowly grinds down the Cuban economy, creating desperation and instability. In that sense, the embargo has been tragically effective. According to a 2024 United Nations report, from March 2023 to February 2024, the blockade caused losses estimated at over $5 billion. That’s $421 million a month, or more than $13.8 million a day; or more than $575,683 per hour, staggering figures for a country of 11 million people. Economic losses of just four months of the blockade (roughly $1.6 billion) could guarantee the distribution of the rationed family food basket to the population for an entire year. Eighteen days of the damages from the blockade (about $250 million) could cover the badly needed annual maintenance and repair costs of Cuba’s national electrical system and prevent the near-daily blackouts that plague the island. Just 21 hours of blockade damages (about $12 million) would cover the purchase cost of insulin for the country’s healthcare system for one year.
Critics of the blockade often point to these numbers as evidence of its inhumanity. Yet the U.S. persists, isolated on the world stage. In 2023, for the 30th consecutive year, the UN voted overwhelmingly to condemn the embargo, with only the United States and Israel standing in opposition. The message is clear: the embargo has no international support, and it continues only because of U.S. geopolitical power.
Threads of History
I realized during my time in Cuba that history does not come with clean breaks. There are no sharp divides between past and present, between personal memory and political reality. The story of my family’s exile, the complexities of the Cuban Revolution, and the brutal impact of the U.S. blockade are all threads woven into a single tapestry. As Cuban Americans, we live at the intersection of personal history and political struggle. Our families’ experiences of loss, grief and displacement are not isolated from the broader narrative of U.S. imperialism in Cuba.
For many in our community, the pain caused by the revolution is deep and undeniable. But even as we honor and recognize that trauma, we must also acknowledge that the greatest and most enduring source of suffering for the Cuban people today is the U.S. blockade. Supporting Cuba solidarity does not mean turning a blind eye to the revolution’s shortcomings, nor does it mean dismissing the grievances our families have carried for decades. Rather, it requires understanding that the blockade, a deliberate act of economic strangulation, has done far more to perpetuate hardship in Cuba than any internal contradictions of the Cuban system.
The U.S. embargo is designed to create misery, to undermine Cuba’s sovereignty, and to bring about regime change by forcing desperation on its people. This economic warfare is felt in every corner of Cuban life, making meaningful reform and recovery nearly impossible. If we, as Cuban Americans, want to see a future for Cuba that is free from poverty and despair, we must stand against the blockade.
This is why I believe that joining the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the best path forward.
Why the Democratic Socialists of America?
For many Cuban Americans, the idea of joining a socialist organization like DSA can seem daunting given our history and the weight of the Cold War narratives we’ve inherited. But it’s precisely because of our unique experiences and perspectives that we are positioned to make a significant impact in this fight. DSA offers not just a political home but a path to real, tangible change through our network of elected officials, our ties to labor unions, and our robust grassroots infrastructure.
DSA isn’t just a symbolic movement — it’s a growing political force with real wins under its belt. In New York City alone, over one million people are represented by elected officials endorsed by NYC-DSA, including members of the U.S. House of Representatives, New York State Senate, Assembly and City Council. These socialists in office function as a de facto socialist caucus, coordinating legislative agendas on critical issues like housing, labor, and climate justice.
One recent example is the successful blocking of Hector LaSalle, an anti-abortion and anti-labor judge nominated for New York’s highest court, thanks in large part to DSA-elected officials who were the first to oppose him. DSA was also key in passing the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), the biggest Green New Deal victory in the U.S., which directly challenges the fossil fuel industry. In 2019, DSA, in coalition with housing advocates, passed rent control laws that protect tenants from exploitative landlords and limit evictions. These victories demonstrate that DSA is capable of winning legislative fights that directly improve people’s lives. By joining forces with DSA, Cuban Americans can harness this organizing power to challenge U.S. policy toward Cuba and push for broader reforms rooted in justice, equity and solidarity.
Cuban Americans have a unique perspective and can play a pivotal role in shaping DSA’s work to end the U.S. embargo. One potential pathway could be forming a Cuban-American Solidarity Caucus within DSA, focused on advocating for an end to the blockade, educating the public on its damaging effects, and building coalitions with other progressive organizations. This would give Cuban Americans a powerful voice within the DSA structure, ensuring that their perspectives are at the forefront of the campaign against the embargo.
Another critical element is supporting DSA’s elected officials in their efforts to champion legislation aimed at lifting the embargo. Cuban Americans in DSA can work closely with these officials to sponsor city or state resolutions that condemn the embargo and call for normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations. We can look to cities like Chicago, where similar resolutions have already been passed, as a model for how to build this momentum at the local level.
Additionally, DSA’s deep connections with labor unions provide Cuban Americans with a powerful avenue for organizing solidarity. By working with unions to pass resolutions condemning the blockade, we can add considerable political pressure to our efforts. Mobilizing grassroots campaigns, especially in Cuban-American strongholds like Miami, would be another key strategy. We could organize trips to Cuba, host town halls, and elevate Cuban voices in the U.S. discourse to shift public opinion and make the case for ending the embargo.
By combining our personal experiences with DSA’s organizing infrastructure and legislative success, Cuban Americans can play a crucial role in ending the U.S. embargo and supporting Cuba’s right to self-determination.
You can get involved in DSA’s Cuba Solidarity work at dsaic.org/forcuba