A New report From the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba beginning in 2017 was likely the main reason for the significant increase in infant deaths in Cuba. Report, written by Alexander Maine, Joe Samut, Mark Weisbrotand Guillaume Long Examines the unprecedented increase in Cuba’s infant mortality rate (IMR), which rose 148 percent from 2018 to 2025. During this time, U.S. unilateral coercive economic measures against Cuba were significantly tightened by President Trump and then largely maintained under President Biden before being further tightened during the second Trump administration. If Cuba’s infant mortality rate had remained stable over the past eight years, nearly 1,800 infant deaths would not have occurred.
“Trump’s policy of ‘maximum pressure’ on Cuba has killed too many children — and although we don’t have data yet for the past few months, it is very likely that more children are dying now, and at a higher rate than last year, as a result of the current U.S. fuel blockade targeting Cuba,” said International Policy Director and report co-author Alexander Mayen. “The question is how many more children must die before the current economic blockade against Cuba is lifted.”
the a report “In Cuba, where the country has invested heavily over decades in health care services, the maternal mortality rate… has been among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, and lower than in the United States,” he notes, but “since 2018… Cuba’s maternal mortality rate has risen from an annual rate of 4.0 per 1,000 live births to a rate of 9.9 as of 2025.”
The paper also notes that Cuba, unlike its neighbors in the region, has not rebounded economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, with annual GDP per capita growth averaging just 0.4% from 2020 to 2024, compared to 3.2% for LAC as a whole.
the a report Examines the economic and social impacts of the tightening of US sanctions since 2017, with a particular focus on the impact on Cuba’s healthcare sector. The Trump administration’s pressure on Cuba has included restrictions that have sharply curtailed the island’s important tourism sector; Severely restricting exports of goods to Cuba – including essential medicines and medical equipment; – Prevent Cuba’s access to international financial markets by re-listing the country on the list of state sponsors of terrorism; curbing remittances; It has pressured countries to end their partnerships with Cuban medical missions, most recently imposing a fuel blockade that prevents Venezuelan oil from reaching the island.
“U.S. sanctions have targeted Cuba’s main sources of export revenue, such as tourism, remittances from Cuban Americans to their family members, and even by pressuring other countries to end primary care programs staffed by Cuban doctors. These measures have sharply reduced Cuba’s ability to pay for needed food and medicine,” said Joe Sammut, an international research fellow at CEPR and co-author. “Cutting off exports of medical services is doubly cruel, because these programs serve mostly marginalized communities in poor countries, while bringing foreign currency earnings to Cuba in mutually beneficial trade. As such, increased US sanctions are having negative impacts on health care even outside the island of 10 million people.”
As the report discusses, recent research has shown that unilateral and widespread economic sanctions are just as dangerous as armed conflicts, killing about 564,000 people annually, according to the UN report. study Written by CEPR economists Francisco Rodriguez, Silvio Rendon, and Mark Weisbrot, published in August 2016. Lancet Global Health. More than half of these deaths are among children under the age of five, and infant mortality is even more disproportionate, since they make up three-quarters of the population under the age of five.
“The sanctions imposed on Cuba starkly illustrate how these economic sanctions work: they target civilian populations, often with the aim of bringing about regime change,” said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the European Center for Human Rights. “This can significantly increase mortality rates, as shown statistically in Lancet Global Health Study economic sanctions around the world. Cuba’s high death rate fits this pattern, and the causality is clear.
The US Senate could vote as early as Tuesday, April 28 on a resolution War Powers Resolution Introduced by Senators Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff, and Ruben Gallego “to prevent [US] armed forces from participating in hostilities [against Cuba] Unless authorized by Congress.”
“this legislation Pending in Congress now He argues “It is convincing that the current blockade constitutes military participation in hostilities and is illegal under the Constitution and U.S. law because it was not authorized by Congress,” Weissbrodt said.
“Collective punishment of civilians is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention when there is an armed conflict, and can be prosecuted as a war crime. This appears to be applicable now that the current naval blockade includes the US military.”
The report also describes the vulnerability of newborns in Cuba to the impact of power outages and fuel scarcity – as has occurred recently I mentioned By The New York Times. “The blockade has had a particularly dire impact on Cuba’s healthcare infrastructure, as frequent power outages have interrupted the use of vital equipment to treat patients, including incubators for premature babies, and ventilators to help sick newborns breathe,” said Guillaume Long, a senior research fellow at CEPR and co-author.
“Given the effects of the US energy blockade, it is very likely that Cuba’s infant mortality rate has risen significantly since December 2025, when it reached 9.9 per 1,000 live births. It is also likely that other key health indicators, such as life expectancy and maternal mortality, have deteriorated since the beginning of the year,” the report notes.
Source link
