{"id":7138,"date":"2026-04-07T13:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=7138"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:02:56","slug":"2-us-lawmakers-visiting-cuba-denounce-islands-economic-bombing-under-energy-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2026\/04\/07\/2-us-lawmakers-visiting-cuba-denounce-islands-economic-bombing-under-energy-blockade\/","title":{"rendered":"2 US lawmakers visiting Cuba denounce island\u2019s \u2018economic bombing\u2019 under energy blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

link to article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


The impact of US foreign policy on humanitarian crises and regions around the world was highlighted in this article. The fuel blockade is creating a cascade effect that is causing infrastructure failures throughout Cuba’s economy and infrastructure which is already weakened. Jayapal and Jackson have framed the current energy policy as outdated Cold War thinking that hurts the average Cuban citizen much more than it does the Cuban government. This article provides evidence of a unique moment where there appears to be bipartisan consideration of the sanctions being imposed on Cuba, particularly since Cuba has begun to take some initial steps towards cooperation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, it is expected for Cuba to push for sanctions relief through continued cooperative efforts with the United States and show good faith gestures to strengthen its diplomatic position. It is anticipated that Jayapal and Jackson would advocate for changes in US policies at home as well as use their report to generate momentum for easing current restrictions. There will be a strategic decision made by the current administration regarding whether to continue to apply pressure on Cuba’s political system or if they should begin to engage with Cuba in order to create stability in the region. The Russian Federation and Venezuelan governments will continue to utilize fuel shipments as a means to increase their influence in the region, however, their ability to do so is limited. The people of Cuba who have been impacted the most by the blackouts and fuel shortages will be putting pressure on all parties involved in order to find a long-term resolution to these issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This relates to many of the course concepts including sovereignty, power and intervention in global politics. The US fuel blockade constitutes a type of structural power, the use of economic coercion, to shape another nation’s behavior. Additionally, the responses of Cuba demonstrate how smaller nations are content with dependence and external pressures, which is one of the central tenants of dependency theory. Furthermore, the presence of Russia in Venezuela demonstrates how various regional actors seek to exert their influence within a multi multipolar system. Finally, the humanitarian impacts provide additional relevance to our discussion of legitimacy, specifically, when sanctions negatively affect civilians, they elicit ethical considerations regarding whether foreign policy instruments support international law and human rights standards. The two US lawmakers stated that only a long-term policy shift would resolve the crisis affecting Cuba, and that includes ending the US energy blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

link to article The impact of US foreign policy on humanitarian crises and regions around the world was highlighted in this article. The fuel blockade is creating a cascade effect that is causing infrastructure failures throughout Cuba’s economy and infrastructure which is already weakened. Jayapal and Jackson have framed the current energy policy as outdated Cold War thinking that hurts… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7139,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions\/7139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}