Moral and Legal Issues Related to the
United States’ Blockade of Cuba 
National Network on Cuba, Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition
Americas Without Sanctions and Friendship Office of the Americas  

Congressional Hearing on Cuban Sanctions on C-Span
CODEPINK https://www.codepink.org/codepinkcongress

(September 3, 2026) —
Sponsors:
Congresswoman Delia Ramírez, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
Panelists: 
Attorney Suzanne Adely is President of the National Lawyers Guild and member of the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, where she also serves as an alternate delegate to the United Nations.

Ms. Adely has visited an array of countries to investigate human rights conditions, including an August 2026 fact-finding trip to Cuba, and contributed to an NLG report on this that will be shared with Congress. She will speak to the legal implications of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Rev. Dr. Robert Turner has led the Empowerment Temple, an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, since 2021. A strong advocate of social justice and defender of the poor, Reverend Turner’s ministry includes a monthly walk from Baltimore to Washington, DC to demand reparations.

In late May 2026, he traveled to Cuba with a fact-finding delegation, and was very moved by what he saw there. He will address the moral issues of U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Dr. Tanya Zakrison is a trauma surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago on the South Side and has visited Cuba frequently throughout her life. Her research is focused on structural violence domestically and globally. She will speak to living and healthcare conditions in Cuba in light of the administration’s escalations of the blockade during 2026.

Felix Sharpe Caballero was born in Cuba, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He remains in daily contact with his family in Cuba, giving him a daily view and perspective of the difficulties faced by the population from the far eastern end of the island, to the heart of Havana. Mr. Sharpe Caballero has served at levels of appointed executive position in county, city, and State government throughout his 35-year career. He will speak to the impact of U.S. policy on Cuban and CubanAmerican families.

The Problem:
As was explained in a briefing hosted by Rep. Ramírez on April 22, 2026, unilateral coercive measures (“sanctions”) imposed by the United States have caused a doubling of the infant mortality rate in Cuba over the past nine years. Our Cuban friends tell us, “Bombs are not dropping, but children are dying” due to the ever-tightening blockade our government is imposing on the island nation.

This briefing will look at the legal and moral implications of this U.S. policy, to raise awareness of the need for change through some of the legislation currently before Congress.

H.R.7521 and its companion S. 136, the United States Cuba Trade Act to lift the blockade, would save many children in Cuba. House Resolution 1056 to Annul the Monroe Doctrine, which advocates for “terminating all unilateral economic sanctions imposed through Executive orders, and working with Congress to terminate all unilateral sanctions, such as the Cuba embargo, mandated by law,” would also spare the lives of children in Cuba and elsewhere. The Resolution is a roadmap for a reset of U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean and an end to the Monroe Doctrine.

H.Con.Res 106 to Stop Unauthorized Military Action in Cuba would also save Cuban lives from being sacrificed to unlawful U.S. military aggression against the island nation.