Rep. Waters: ‘Stop Trying to Kill All the Families in Cuba’
September 17, 2026—At Tuesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing, Ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters gave with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
“And a word about Cuba. You cut off all the oil to Cuba. You’re starving the families. You are starving the children. They don’t have electricity. They can’t get food in. What are you doing, Mr. Secretary? Why are you being so cruel? I know we have a cruel president, but do you have to be a puppet? Do you have to do whatever he wants you to do? What are you doing to this country? You are making us not only look bad, but act bad, all over the world. And I want to tell you, history is not going to be kind to you or this administration.”
The United States maintains a decades-old economic embargo against Cuba. Since the Trump Administration took over Venezuela and its oil supplies last January, the U.S. government has enforced a strict blockade of fuel from reaching Cuba, creating a humanitarian crisis on the island nation.
In August, the UN Human Rights Council warned that Cuba risks becoming “a silent Gaza” due to unilateral U.S. sanctions.
