US Lawmakers End Cuba Visit Denouncing Energy Blockade

Two Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives concluded a five-day official visit to Cuba on Sunday, meeting with President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other senior officials to denounce a United States energy blockade that has exacerbated the island's humanitarian crisis.

Representatives Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, the first congressional delegation to the country since the blockade took effect in January, described the policy as an illegal measure causing widespread suffering. In a joint statement, they called it "cruel collective punishment, effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately." The lawmakers met with Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and members of the Cuban Parliament in Havana, where they discussed the blockade's effects on daily life, including national blackouts, fuel shortages and disruptions to hospitals and transportation.

Díaz-Canel posted photos of the meeting on social media platform X on Monday, stating that he had highlighted the "criminal damage caused by the U.S. blockade, particularly the consequences of...