We must take action and demand that Congress puts an end to sanctions in the Americas. Let's come together and send a strong message: DO NOT IMPOSE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT IN OUR NAME! SANCTIONS KILL! Join us on October 26 for Advocacy Day: Americas Without Sanctions and let your voice be heard.
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Economic coercive measures, commonly referred to as “sanctions,” are a form of warfare that brings suffering and death to the most vulnerable populations in the targeted country—children, the elderly, the sick, and the poor. The United States government uses them as a regime change tactic, in the hope that populations will rise up and overthrow their governments. Although that rarely happens, the populations of targeted countries are subjected to illegal collective punishment simply because the United States does not like their leaders.
What are these coercive measures doing to our neighbors in the Americas?
CUBA: The United States’ embargo has been likened to a medieval siege or blockade, and has cost the Cuban economy US$154.2 billion over the past 60 years. In 2021, President Trump spuriously added Cuba to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list (SSOT), and President Biden has kept it there. This has made it even more difficult for Cuba to acquire such goods on the international market as fuel, food, construction supplies, hygiene products, and medicine, and to receive humanitarian aid in the aftermath of hurricanes and the pandemic. This has led to the most serious humanitarian crisis in the island’s history. Currently Congress is considering the FORCE Act (HR 314) to codify Cuba’s placement on the SSOT.
VENEZUELA: US sanctions, particularly on Venezuela’s oil sector since 2017, led to a 99% drop in government revenue, causing food shortages and devastating the country’s health sector. Researchers found that in just one year, 2017-2018, sanctions caused 40,000 excess deaths. Sanctions are also one of the main drivers of Venezuelan migration to the US. Senator Bob Menéndez plans to introduce a bill that would codify sanctions on certain sectors of Venezuela’s economy. A separate bill, S.995, the Venezuelan Democracy Act, would restrict other countries from even trading with Venezuela.
NICARAGUA: Sanctions have caused Nicaragua to lose over US$1.4 billion between 2018 and 2021 in funding from the World Bank, IDB and IMF, impacting infrastructure projects, child nutrition and development programs, and access to safe drinking water in rural areas. A new sanctions bill, S.1881, would cripple Nicaragua’s economy and reverse steady progress made in reducing poverty and improving human development indicators under the Sandinista administration over the past 16 years. Hunger could make a comeback in the country with the third lowest GDP per capita in the hemisphere.