U.S. Lawmakers Visited a Cuban Hospital. Here’s What They Saw
September 24, 2026
Four Democratic lawmakers traveled to Cuba in July to see the human impact of the U.S. economic war on Cuba firsthand.
During the trip, Reps. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL) visited Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.
“We don’t have the resources to perform major surgeries,” Dr. Calixto Hernández told the delegation.
He said the hospital had performed 2,300 surgeries in the first four months of this year — 900 fewer than during the same period the year before.
“Does this make any sense?”
Rep. Leger Fernández asked “A blockade that prevents basic materials for health?” Rep. Leger Fernández also said that infant mortality has doubled since the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on the island in January. “I can't imagine any American citizen wants to say, ‘I want babies to die,’” she said.
“We have to end this war on the Cuban people,” Rep. Ramirez said. “It’s not just immoral. It’s evil.”
Related Stories
Share this Report
-
Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister:
“The policy of the United States is to produce collective punishment, to use the pain of each and every Cuban to try to achieve a political goal.”
“This has a human face. And the main problem is that it is not collateral damage. It is the aim of the policy.”
Amna Nawaz, PBS NewsHour Anchor:
“This month, the foreign minister of Cuba said that there are no talks happening between the U.S. and Cuba, but that the Cuban government would continue reaching out to its contacts. Is that happening? Is that part of why you're here in Washington?”
Carlos Fernández de Cossío:
“We've had several contacts and meetings with the U.S. What we claim is that they had no progress. And we say that because you only have to look at the fact that practically every week or every ten days or 15 days, there's a new announcement by the U.S. government of sanctions and coercive measures that punish the people of Cuba.”
“So you could not claim that there is progress in any dialogue or any type of communication if hostility continues to happen. And that's our main point.”
“But we continue to be ready to engage with the United States when they are ready to try to solve our political differences, our bilateral political differences, which are many.”
Amna Nawaz:
“The White House has said that the Cuban regime aligns itself with nations hostile to the U.S., that Cuba maintains close ties to other state sponsors of terrorism. What is your response to those claims?”
Carlos Fernández de Cossío:
“Most of the countries that the U.S. claims that Cuba is close to, the United States has a more comprehensive and broader relationship with those countries than Cuba does.”
Amna Nawaz:
“We're talking about nations like Russia, Iran—”
Carlos Fernández de Cossío:
“The U.S. has a much broader relationship with China, at least, and with Russia than we do, with trade, with exchanges of different types than we do.”
Amna Nawaz:
“It is an adversarial relationship with Russia, though. We would not call—”
Carlos Fernández de Cossío:
“But we have more trade still today with Russia than we do, more contacts, more high-level meetings and visits than they have with Cuba.”
Support Independent Journalism from Cuba
