July 15, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

Democrats to Rubio: “Show Us the Receipts”

Russian and Chinese spy bases. Hamas and Hezbollah. Terrorism. Communism.

To justify economic war on Cuba, the Trump administration is leaning on a seemingly endless list of flimsy allegations to argue that Cuba poses a threat to U.S. national security.

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), who traveled to Cuba last week with three other Democratic members of Congress, said none of the administration’s accusations against Cuba have been backed up.

“For all of that long list of claims, we have seen no proof,” Leger Fernández told Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández in an exclusive interview. “That’s one of the things that the American people, the American media, the American Congress needs to demand.”

Leger Fernández was on the verge of tears as she recounted visiting a Cuban hospital and hearing about the rise in infant mortality due to sanctions and the U.S. oil blockade.

“Why would we do that? Why would Americans support that?” she asked.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) recalled a young Cuban engineer’s message for Donald Trump: “Can you tell your president he has his foot on my neck? Either he ends my life or he pulls the foot off my neck.”

Nine million people, Ramirez continued, “feel that they’re being choked” by U.S. economic warfare.

Embassy Denies Lawmakers a Meeting

The U.S. embassy in Havana declined the congressional delegation’s request for a meeting — a response that Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) says is not normal. Pocan visited Cuba four years ago on a congressional visit, when he held extensive meetings with U.S. embassy officials.

“I don’t think they really want people to know what’s going on because they’re putting a false narrative out there,” he said.

Asked whether Cuba poses a threat to the United States, the lawmakers’ response was categorical.

“In none of the three days that we have been here have I seen that the Cuban people are a threat to the American people,” Ramirez said. “What I’ve seen is this real desire of being in solidarity with one another.”

July 10, 2026 — Belly of the Beast

On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly voted 136-9, with 30 abstentions, to hold a debate regarding the U.S. economic war against Cuba.

The result was not as lopsided as the annual vote to condemn the embargo at the UN General Assembly’s fall session, when the combined number of opposing votes and abstentions can typically be counted on one hand. The modest shift away from Cuba appears to be the result of U.S. pressure, with most of the movement coming from Europe (16 abstentions and 3 opposing votes) and Latin America (5 abstentions and 3 opposing votes). Notably, Canada, which had historically defied U.S. pressure over its relations with Cuba, abstained. Israel, as always, voted with the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had lobbied countries to prevent holding the debate at all, according to a leaked State Department cable obtained by The Nation. In addition, Rubio instructed U.S. diplomats to pressure host governments considered to be U.S. allies to criticize Cuba during the debate. Nonaligned countries were to be told to stay silent and countries that have traditionally supported ending the embargo were to be informed that “the United States will be listening very closely” to their statements on the issue.

In the end, only five countries — the United States, Czechia, Chile, Costa Rica and Paraguay — spoke critically of Cuba, while 43 countries condemned U.S. sanctions, in addition to statements on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Movement.

In a remarkable denial of reality, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz insisted the U.S. embargo does not exist, and then proceeded to criticize Cuba for human rights abuses.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla pushed back, arguing that U.S. sanctions since 2017 have increased childhood cancer deaths while infant mortality rates have more than doubled. Rodríguez also warned that U.S. hostility toward Cuba is part of a broader pattern, calling it “a prelude to what could happen to any other country tomorrow.”

​Watch Cuba’s foreign minister call out Waltz for denying the existence of the U.S. blockade.

Havana, July 9 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez today thanked organizations, intellectuals and activists from 58 countries for their support of the manifesto against the United States’ military aggression towards the island.

Promoted by the Nuestra América Collective and supported by more than 8,840 signatures, the text also condemns the hostility of the United States against the Caribbean nation.

In a message posted on social media, the Foreign Minister described that support as a show of international solidarity with Cuba.

According to Rodríguez, the manifesto denounces the escalation of aggression against the Cuban people and the humanitarian effects that, according to its promoters, are caused by the energy blockade, secondary sanctions and the tightening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.

The head of Cuban diplomacy stated that the pronouncement constitutes further evidence that Cuba “is not alone in this fight” and reiterated the message that “Cuba is not a threat; the blockade is.”

The manifesto remains open to new signatories through the Solidarity Without Blockade platform.

car/raj

United Nations, July 7 (Prensa Latina) The United States government tried unsuccessfully today to prevent a debate on the economic, commercial and financial blockade of that country against Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly, at its headquarters in New York.

• July 7, 2026 | 10:57

Jeffrey Bartos, the United States representative for UN Management and Reform, failed to do so after 136 countries voted in favor of including the issue on the agenda, nine voted against, and 30 abstained.

Once again, Washington tried to blame the Cuban government for the limitations the island faces while it enforces a genocidal blockade against that nation.

Bartos stated that the United States objects to holding a new debate on that issue during the eightieth session of the General Assembly.

The US representative asserted that Cuba has been without power since Monday, but failed to mention the oil embargo imposed by the White House, which hinders fuel supplies to the island.

During his speech, he stated that the generators “are not lighting the refrigerators of Cubans, nor the cells of political prisoners, nor those waiting for oxygen or surgeries in hospitals.”

The diplomat stated that the cost of the meeting could be used for other needs and maintained that the Cuban government seeks to use the debate as a propaganda tool, without mentioning US policy.

Washington maintains a policy of economic, financial, migratory, technological and extraterritorial pressure against Cuba aimed at punishing the Cuban people, suffocating its economy and persecuting third countries, companies and individuals that maintain legitimate links with the largest of the Antilles.

ft/mpv

United Nations, July 7 (Prensa Latina) The UN General Assembly today approved by a large majority the opening of a debate on the need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba.

Despite attempts by the US delegation to avoid discussing the issue, the debate received the support of 136 nations, with only nine votes against and 30 abstentions.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez is leading the Cuban delegation at this urgent session, where Havana will present a formal complaint against Washington’s aggressive actions, including the energy blockade that has jeopardized essential services such as health, food, and transportation.

The Cuban complaint comes amid intense diplomatic pressure from the United States to prevent the UN from discussing the effects of the more than 60-year-old economic, commercial and financial blockade.

A State Department cable, signed by Secretary Marco Rubio and leaked to The Nation, urged US ambassadors around the world to prevent the United Nations from addressing the effects of the aggressive economic policy on the Cuban people this Tuesday.

Even with such pressure, the discussion was given the green light and there is already a long list of speakers requesting to speak, as reported in the session.

ft/mar