Pair of Democrat lawmakers slam 'blockade of fuel' to Cuba, 'economic bombing' after visit to island

By Fox News · Fox News

Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., said after a congressional delegation returned from Cuba that U.S. economic restrictions on the island represented an "illegal U.S. blockade of fuel" and "effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country." The lawmakers, following their five-day delegation to Cuba, spoke out against what they described as a humanitarian crisis on the island that they argue is linked to the U.S. embargo. "The illegal U.S. blockade of fuel to Cuba—90 miles south of the United States—adds to the longest embargo in world history and is causing untold suffering to the Cuban people," the lawmakers said in a statement on Sunday. "The United States prevented a single drop of oil from entering Cuba for over three months. This is cruel collective punishment—effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country—that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately." US ALLOWS RUSSIAN OIL TANKER TO REACH CUBA AMID BLOCKADE AS TRUMP SAYS ISLAND 'HAS TO SURVIVE' "We witnessed firsthand premature babies in incubators, weighing just two pounds, who are at tremendous risk because their ventilators and incubators cannot function without electricity," they continued. "Children cannot attend school because there is no fuel for them or their teachers to travel. Cancer patients cannot receive lifesaving treatments because of lack of medications. There is a water shortage because there is little electricity to pump water. Businesses have closed. Families cannot keep food refrigerated, and food production on the island has dropped to just 10 percent of the people’s needs." This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated his pressure campaign on Cuba in recent weeks, calling the island a "failed nation" and suggesting that "Cuba is next" following recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran. The trip came after Jayapal and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., introduced legislation to block federal…