Time to Reexamine US Sanctions Policy

As preparations are made for a new Congress to begin in January 2025, it is time to remind our legislators that US unilateral coercive measures (sanctions) are bad policy! Sanctions cause economies to collapse in the targeted countries, forcing people to migrate to our southern border; they are pushing more countries to find alternative banking and trading partners, which may ultimately hurt the US dollar and undermine our economy; and they are immoral because they impose collective punishment—suffering and death—on the most vulnerable populations: children under five, the chronically ill, and the elderly.

Please send our petition to your Congress members and senators today to ask for a reset of US relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, free of these counterproductive coercive measures. We want Americas Without Sanctions!

Dear Member of Congress,

As we transition to a new administration and Congress in Washington, I urge you to reexamine whether the extensive use of US economic sanctions in Latin America serves US interests and values. There is evidence that sanctions undermine basic human rights, and that they are ineffective and even counterproductive. I urge you to consider removing the many sanctions that are currently in place against our neighbors in Latin America.

Sanctions are a root cause driving migration to the border. The large number of migrants on our southern border was clearly an issue of concern to US voters during this year’s election cycle. Rolling back sanctions on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela would be an effective way to reduce the need to migrate from those countries. One report stated,

“Venezuelans apprehended at the border, for example, skyrocketed from a tiny 4,500 in FY2020 to the more than 265,000 in the first 11 months FY 2023! In the same period, Nicaraguans jumped from just 3,164 to 131,831. And Cubans spiraled from just 14,000 in 2020 to more than 184,00 in 2023.”

US-imposed sanctions as a root cause driving migration to the US have also been described by US academics, think tanks, and members of the US Congress. The Congressional Research Service found sanctions on Venezuela “contributed to an economic crisis in the country that has prompted 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee.” In brief, people deprived of sustenance in their home countries are choosing to survive by migrating.

Unilateral economic sanctions do not serve US interests and may ultimately undermine our economy. Former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew forewarned that, “foreigners … will eventually find ways to do business outside U.S. markets — weakening both our sanctions and our underlying economy. The magic bullet will become a poison pill.” The current rise of the BRICS alliance is a sign that this prediction may be coming true, as more nations seek alternative finance and trade arrangements. Sanctions on Venezuela deny our economy access to Venezuelan oil which could decrease gasoline costs to US consumers concerned with inflation. Escalating sanctions on Nicaragua may undermine the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) which has benefited the US, and the embargo on Cuba is not even supported by the majority of Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County and elsewhere.

Finally, unilateral economic sanctions are immoral. Numerous international reports present evidence that they harm the most vulnerable civilian populations, denying people access to food, medicines and medical supplies, and inputs to maintain critical infrastructure such as electricity and drinking water systems. The result is increased suffering and deaths, particularly among children under five, the chronically ill, the elderly, and the poor. US sanctions on Venezuela are estimated to have caused 40,000 deaths between 2017 and 2018, and the placement of Cuba on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, in addition to a six-decade-long embargo, has unleashed the most severe humanitarian crisis in the country’s history. These results do not reflect the values we embrace in the United States, nor do they help our standing in the world.

For all these reasons, I strongly urge you to:

Vote NO on the pending legislation aimed at escalating sanctions against Cuba (HR314), Nicaragua (S.1881/HR6954), and Venezuela (S.995), and
Advocate for the repeal of existing Congressional sanctions against these countries.
It is clearly time for a change in US sanctions policy in Latin America.

Sincerely,