Black delegation carries message back from Cuba that Trump does not want to hear

After a five-day fact-finding trip to Cuba, members of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and its Pan-African Unity Dialogue came to Washington, D.C.’s National Press Club on June 9 to testify about what they heard and saw during their recent trip.

Delegates said they viewed the United States as punishing the Cuban people — and ultimately Afro Cubans — not because Cubans have done something unforgivable, but because Washington refuses to accept that a small Caribbean nation has chosen its own political path.

The press conference was a public report back on the delegation’s May 26–30 fact-finding trip and turned into an organizing call. Delegates said they wanted to push for the U.S. to have a legislative agenda for Cuba that is based on diplomacy, humanitarian engagement, and a return to the normalization process opened during the Obama administration.

Cuba, speakers argued, is being treated as if diplomatic talks with its government are impossible. Yet the Trump administration has maintained relations with the governments of China and Russia despite disagreements.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, who was unable to join the delegation to Cuba but plans to visit in the future, called out what he described as U.S. hypocrisy. “I don’t think that we should try to say this is communist Cuba and that therefore they have to be punished,” Jackson said. “In the meantime, the president is best friends with the head of the Communist Party in Russia. At the same time, the United States’ biggest trading partner is communist China, and yet we have this ongoing issue with the sovereign people of Cuba.

“I think it’s wrong.”

Cuba’s continued isolation is making ordinary people pay the cost, delegates said, and the people carrying the heaviest load are Afro Cubans in under-resourced communities. Journalist Milton Allimadi also noted the contradiction in the stance of the United States: “The congressman spoke about the hypocrisy of condemning Cuba, punishing Cuba, and yet working with China,” Allimadi said. “The president of Syria, who was on the U.S. wanted list until December 2024 with a $10 million bounty on his head because the organization he led was affiliated with al Qaeda and was beheading people, and yet a few months ago he was in the White House. If we can negotiate with him and allow him to meet the president, why can we not negotiate with the Cuban president who has said they’re willing to negotiate on any issue and differences that they have with the United States?”

IBW delegation members said they found Cuba to be a country under suffocating pressure. Delegates described hospitals struggling with shortages, food sitting in port because there was not enough fuel to move it, and communities trying to live through long blackouts and interrupted services. Speakers said the disagreement with Cuba’s government does not justify policies that sharpen hunger, restrict medical access, and make an entire people pay the price.

Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, said the delegation did not go to Cuba to pretend every internal issue on the island has been solved. It went, he said, to challenge the idea that political disagreement should translate into collective punishment. Daniels recalled President Miguel Díaz-Canel telling the delegation, “If we are incompetent, being incompetent is not a rationale for invasion or for collective punishment of the people.”

But the IBW delegation did not hold its press conference simply to denounce the blockade. It came back to say that the United States’ Cuba policy can be changed.

First, members said humanitarian support has to be strengthened. Daniels said the group wants to work through existing solidarity channels, especially networks linked to Pastors for Peace and organizations in the Black Family Summit, to send medicine, solar equipment, and other essentials to Cuba. The IBW said it will also encourage Black organizations, women’s groups, churches, and civic bodies to travel to Cuba, meet with communities there, and build direct ties.

Second, Daniels said the delegation plans to work with members of Congress, including Rep. Jackson and allies connected to the Congressional Black Caucus, to put Cuba on its political agenda. He pointed to plans for a major Cuba-focused forum tied to the Congressional Black Caucus and to efforts to bring Cuban officials and anti-racism advocates into direct conversation with Black political, civil rights, and faith institutions in the United States.

Third, the delegation wants to re-emphasize a return to direct diplomacy without preconditions and to the end of the use of civilian suffering as a bargaining tool. Allimadi reminded listeners of Cuba’s role in African liberation struggles, especially at the historic battle at Angola’s Cuito Cuanavale, and argued that history matters now that the island is under siege.

“We should not be afraid of embracing Cuba and speaking up on behalf of the Cuban people,” he said. “One of the most painful things we learned was that there are 15,000 tons of rice in the harbors, but they cannot distribute it to the rest of the country because there’s no fuel. How can that be allowed in the 21st century?”