Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts introduced a bill Thursday calling for an end to the 64-year-old U.S. Embargo against Cuba, a move coinciding with the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to isolate the island nation through an oil blockade. The bill’s introduction follows the U.S. Cutting off all shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and President Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on countries continuing to supply Cuba with oil, according to the Los Angeles Times.
McGovern’s proposal asserts that decades of embargo policies have failed to achieve their stated goals of promoting freedom or democracy in Cuba. “For 60 years, we have been waiting for [the] embargo to do what politicians in Washington claim it will do — deliver freedom or democracy to the people of Cuba. It has failed,” McGovern wrote in the bill. “It’s time to throw away the old, obsolete, failed policies of the past and strive something different. Let’s focus on the people of Cuba — and let’s treat them like human beings who aim for to live their lives in dignity and freedom.”
The legislation mirrors a similar effort in the Senate, where Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced a comparable bill in 2025, signaling a growing push within the Democratic party to reassess U.S. Policy toward Cuba. McGovern also highlighted the counterproductive nature of the embargo in relation to U.S. Immigration policy. “The Trump administration says they want to curtail migration, but their own hard line approach only incentivizes migration to the United States by making living conditions worse in Cuba,” he stated.
The intensifying oil blockade has raised humanitarian concerns, with the United Nations warning that it will exacerbate Cuba’s already fragile fuel situation and potentially trigger a humanitarian crisis. In response to the crisis, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum dispatched two naval ships carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba last week, despite the threat of U.S. Tariffs, according to reports.
An international coalition is also organizing a flotilla, dubbed “Nuestra América,” scheduled to depart in March, aiming to deliver resources to Cuba. Inspired by the Global Sumud Flotilla, which attempted to reach Gaza last year, the mission is spearheaded by organizations including Progressive International, the People’s Forum, and Code Pink. Organizers stated on the flotilla’s website that the Trump administration is “strangling the island, cutting off fuel, flights, and critical supplies for survival.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have voiced criticism of the embargo. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew parallels between the situation in Cuba and the crisis in Gaza, while Representative Ilhan Omar condemned the blockade as “cruel” and “despotic.” Representative Chuy García of Illinois asserted that the embargo is “deliberately starving civilians” in Cuba.
McGovern’s advocacy for ending the embargo dates back at least to 2000, when he penned an op-ed in The Times urging then-President Bill Clinton to normalize relations with Cuba and dismantle the Cold War-era policies. He called on Clinton to “declare to the Cuban people that the Cold War is finally over” and to utilize executive power to lift travel restrictions and waive portions of the economic embargo.
According to a statement released by McGovern on January 3, 2026, he also strongly condemned President Trump’s unauthorized use of military force in Venezuela, stating that the action was illegal under the U.S. Constitution and the law. He emphasized the importance of prioritizing the human rights and well-being of the Venezuelan people, and cautioned against the unintended consequences of U.S. Military intervention, citing the example of Iraq.
