[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H4689-H4690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONSIDER NEW APPROACH TO CUBA

  (Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts was recognized to address the House 
for 5 minutes.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about United States 
policy toward Cuba, or rather our lack of a coherent policy and our 
decades-long failure to help the people of Cuba.
  Cuba is our neighbor. We have lived side by side for centuries. Our 
histories are intertwined. Our futures are, too.
  Almost 10 million people live on the island of Cuba. They go to 
school and work, raise families and go about their lives, and crave 
freedom and justice, but the people of Cuba struggle to realize their 
aspirations.
  The Cuban Government deprives the people from enjoying their civil 
and political rights. Freedom of expression and assembly are severely 
curtailed. The recent release of 2,000 prisoners was welcome, as is the 
recent release of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, a political prisoner in 
the Defending Freedoms Project of the Tom Lantos Human Rights 
Commission, but over 700 prisoners of conscience remain behind bars, 
according to Human Rights Watch.
  Yet, for all the abuse of the Cuban people by the Cuban Government, 
so too has the United States deprived the Cuban people of enjoying 
their economic and social rights. The crushing U.S. embargo has stunted 
their economic development and caused immense hardship. These U.S. 
policies are human rights violations.
  America's cruel and illegal blockade is creating a severe 
humanitarian crisis, denying energy imports, which the Cuban people 
depend on for their healthcare, food distribution, and livelihood.
  Cubans recently experienced the eighth collapse of their power grid 
since October 2024. Some 3 million Cubans experience water shortages 
every single day, and the U.N. reports that infant mortality has 
doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births. Childhood cancer survival rates have 
fallen from 85 to 65 percent. Supplies of essential medicines are only 
30 percent of normal.
  What we are witnessing in Cuba, as some have characterized it, is 
basically Gaza in slow motion: man-made starvation with the help and 
complicity of the United States of America.
  Meanwhile, arrogant politicians in Washington tell Cubans on the 
island that they must suffer violations of their economic and social 
rights as the only way to restore their civil and political rights. 
This is an insult to their dignity, and it is wrong.
  The six-decade embargo has been a miserable failure. Over and over we 
see that it does not work. It only emboldens hard-liners and makes 
things worse for regular people.
  Now, we hear that the administration is plotting military action 
against Cuba. This would be horrible, wasteful, inhumane, and illegal.
  Cuba is not doing anything that would legitimize a war. Congress has 
approved no declaration of war, no Authorization for Use of Military 
Force. Military action against Cuba would make America a rogue State, 
aligning us with Russia, China, Iran, and others that believe that 
international rules don't matter.
  If we want to know why invading Cuba would be such a disaster, look 
no further than Venezuela. Meet the new boss; same as the old boss. The 
Venezuelan people still have no democracy or human rights, while 
listening to Marco Rubio lecture them with empty promises about freedom 
and self-determination. Their economy was still in shambles even before 
the earthquake.
  Trump and Rubio are pals with the new President. The U.S. has immense 
leverage, but we are not using it to restore democracy, improve human 
rights, or fight hunger. The security apparatus remains in place. 
Political prisoners remain in jail. Oil revenues go to the elites.

  The people of Venezuela deserve better, and the people of Cuba do not 
deserve to be screwed over in the same undignified and illegal manner.
  Cubans deserve to shape their own future, not have it selected for 
them by arrogant politicians in Washington.
  There is a better way. Ten years ago, the U.S. tried a better 
approach. We tried diplomacy. We tried engagement. We tried talking to 
each other, working through our differences, and guess what. It started 
working.
  American tourists went to Cuba. We dropped barriers. We opened up 
relations. Things started getting better for the Cuban people, and 
there was hope that some day they could shape their own future.
  My U.S.-Cuba Trade Act, H.R. 7521, would reverse our decades of 
failed policies toward Cuba. It would repeal the statutory basis of the 
embargo. It would give us tools to work with the Cuban people on 
economic and political progress. It would ensure that Americans and 
Cubans can be good neighbors.
  We must chart a shared path to the future, built not on fear and 
threats or marked by invasion and blockade. The future we must build is 
one of good will and diplomacy, reinforced by trade and exchange.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to consider a new approach to Cuba. 
It is

[[Page H4690]]

time for a new path forward. The Trump administration has damaged our 
Nation's standing in the world. They have totally screwed up the Middle 
East by ignoring human rights and embracing war. I urge my colleagues 
to stand with me in demanding that they not repeat the same cruel 
mistakes in Cuba.

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