• Press Release

Amnesty International Warns of Human Rights Consequences of Possible Cuba Policy Reversal

June 14, 2017

According to reports, the Trump administration is considering the reversal of US policy on Cuba, which could reinstate restrictions on travel and trade that had been previously eased by the Obama administration in 2014.

“Increased political dialogue, travel and trade between the US and Cuba is critical to advancing human rights in both countries,” said Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA.

“If President Trump returns to the cold-war rhetoric of isolation, we will revert to a politicization of human rights on both sides, which will be detrimental to advancing independent scrutinty of Cuba’s human rights situation.”

In 2009, Amnesty International published a report, The US Embargo Against Cuba: Its Impact on Economic and Social Rights, detailing the negative impact of the embargo on the right to health of the Cuban people.

Last year, the Amnesty International USA Board of Directors called on the US Congress to pass bipartisan bills such as the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act, The Cuba Trade Act, and The Cuba Digital and Telecommunications Advancement Act, which would effectively lift the embargo on Cuba.