Ending Hunger in Cuba

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights expressed concern over the worsening of food insecurity in Cuba.

They noted how this situation disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, including older people, pregnant women, children, and those with chronic illnesses. This is not a problem just in Havana. Most of Cuba's provinces are experiencing high levels of food insecurity.

In March, the BBC reported that, for the first time, the Cuban Government has asked the World Food Programme for help amid food shortages. The WFP said it had received Cuba's request for help to provide powdered milk to children under age 7.

According to the Inter-American Commission, the Cuban Government approached WFP for help to continue the monthly delivery of milk for children throughout the country and to help with the delivery of flour for subsidized bread in the basic food basket.

The Commission went on to describe how hunger is increasing on the island due to a combination of low economic growth, high inflation, reduced food production and distribution, and infrastructure problems, especially interruptions in electricity.

It also cited recent economic measures adopted by the Cuban Government, including higher prices for fuel and electricity, the elimination of subsidies for the basic food basket, and the devaluation of the country's currency.

The Inter-American Commission and the Special Rapporteur then underscored that U.S. policies and sanctions are intensifying and worsening the social and economic condition throughout Cuba and especially affecting the Cuban people's access to food, medicines, and basic necessities.

In brief, Mr. Speaker, the United States is increasing hunger and poverty in Cuba. This is being done deliberately and knowingly. It is a human rights violation. It also appears it is being done with a degree of indifference and callousness that I find shocking. It makes me ashamed.

During all my time as a Member of Congress, I have fought to end hunger and food insecurity here at home and around the world. I do not believe that food and medicine should ever be used as weapons against innocent civilians, not in Sudan, not in Ukraine, not in Gaza, not anywhere.

I have coordinated hearings that highlight how governments and armed actors use food as a weapon against civilian populations they view as adversaries.

To see our own government deliberately imposing and maintaining sanctions that we know make hunger worse in Cuba is unconscionable to me.

It is also unconscionable, Mr. Speaker, that some Members of Congress, who cling to Cold War policies, appear eager to support actions that punish and increase the suffering of ordinary people on the island. They actually raise money off the Cuban people's suffering. They say they care about human rights but contribute to making the human rights situation worse. They deliberately create chaos because they can, with absolutely no regard to how it hurts the Cuban people.

Sadly, President Biden has adopted and maintained Donald Trump's policies against Cuba, policies that he rightly denounced as a candidate and when he was Vice President, policies that hurt the very people he says he most wants to help, like independent entrepreneurs, young people, Afro-Cubans, women, and the poor.

President Biden knows that keeping Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list means no one in Cuba has access to the international financial system. Our European and Latin American friends and allies are unable to provide help to the Cuban people out of fear of being punished by U.S. sanctions. Then we wonder why hundreds of thousands of Cubans are leaving the island and migrating to our borders.

I am puzzled and deeply disappointed by the President's inaction. The situation has become desperate, with little hope for a better future. U.S. stubbornness sends a clear signal to the Cuban people that there is no reason to believe that change will happen.

President Biden, your policies are hurting not the Cuban Government but the Cuban people. Your policies are helping to drive mass migration from the island. Mr. President, stop increasing hunger and poverty in Cuba. Remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and let's move toward normalizing relations between our two countries. It is in the interest of both our peoples. Take action and please do it now.

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