Harsh US sanctions push Cuba’s healthcare system to breaking point | People & Power Documentary
November 5, 2025 — Belly of the Beast
In our latest documentary, we speak with Cuban patients and healthcare workers who are struggling to get vital drugs and medical equipment – and look at the toll of the U.S. embargo inside Cuba’s hospitals.
Health Under Sanction looks at specific examples of medicines that companies have refused to sell the Cuban Ministry of Public Health since so-called “maximum pressure” U.S. sanctions were imposed by the first Trump administration.
The 25-minute film is directed by Ed Augustin and Reed Lindsay and produced by Belly of the Beast for People & Power, Al Jazeera’s award-winning investigative documentary program. Watch it now!
Cuba’s healthcare system was once a paragon, held up as an example of what was possible in the developing world. But all that has changed. Harsh US sanctions, reimposed by the first Trump administration, are making it difficult, if not impossible, for healthcare workers to access the drugs and equipment they need. Although designed to apply political pressure to the communist government, in reality, the sanctions hurt civilians the most. The infant mortality rate is rising, and life expectancy is falling.
