{"id":3354,"date":"2026-05-05T21:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3354"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:25:21","slug":"new-report-shows-that-hardening-of-us-sanctions-on-cuba-since-2017-fueled-a-sharp-increase-in-cubas-infant-mortality-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/?p=3354","title":{"rendered":"New Report Shows That Hardening of US Sanctions on Cuba Since 2017 Fueled a Sharp Increase in Cuba\u2019s Infant Mortality Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A new report<\/a> from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba beginning in 2017 were likely the primary cause of a major increase in infant mortality in Cuba. The report, by Alexander Main<\/a>, Joe Sammut<\/a>, Mark Weisbrot<\/a>, and Guillaume Long<\/a> examines the unprecedented increase in Cuba\u2019s infant mortality rate (IMR), which soared by 148 percent from 2018 to 2025. During this time, US unilateral economic coercive measures against Cuba were greatly tightened by President Trump and then largely maintained under President Biden before being tightened even further during the second Trump administration. Had Cuba\u2019s IMR remained stable over the last eight years, then approximately 1,800 deaths of infants would not have occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump policy of \u2018maximum pressure\u2019 on Cuba has killed a lot of babies \u2014 and, although we don\u2019t yet have data for the last few months, it\u2019s highly likely that more babies are dying now, and at an even higher rate than last year as a result of the current US fuel blockade targeting Cuba,\u201d CEPR Director of International Policy and report coauthor Alexander Main said. \u201cThe question is how many more babies will have to die before the current economic siege against Cuba is lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> notes that \u201cIn Cuba, where for decades the state has invested substantially in health care services, the IMR was \u2026 among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, and lower than in the US,\u201d but that \u201cSince 2018 \u2026 Cuba\u2019s IMR has increased from an annual rate of 4.0 per 1000 live births to a rate of 9.9 as of 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper also notes that Cuba, unlike its neighbors in the region, has not rebounded economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging just 0.4 percent annual per capita GDP growth from 2020 to 2024, versus 3.2 percent for the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> looks at the economic and social effects of the hardening of US sanctions since 2017, focusing in particular on the impact on Cuba\u2019s health-care sector. Trump administration pressure on Cuba has included restrictions that have sharply diminished the island\u2019s important tourism sector; severely limited exports of goods to Cuba \u2014 including essential medication and medical equipment; cut Cuba\u2019s access to international financial markets by putting the country back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list; curbed remittances; pressured countries to end their partnerships with Cuba\u2019s medical missions, and notably imposed a recent fuel blockade that prevents Venezuelan oil from reaching the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cUS sanctions have targeted Cuba\u2019s key sources of export earnings, such as tourism, remittances from Cuban Americans to their family members, and even by putting pressure on other countries to end primary care programs staffed by Cuban doctors. These measures sharply reduced Cuba\u2019s capacity to pay for needed food and medicines,\u201d CEPR International Research Fellow and coauthor Joe Sammut said. \u201cCutting off medical services exports is doubly cruel as these programs mostly serve marginalized communities in poorer countries, while bringing in foreign currency revenues to Cuba in a mutually beneficial trade. As such the increasing US sanctions have a negative health-care spillover even beyond the island of 10 million people.\u201d <\/p>\n

As the report discusses, recent research has shown that unilateral, broad economic sanctions are as deadly as armed conflict, killing some 564,000 people annually, according to a study<\/a> by CEPR economists Francisco Rodr\u00edguez, Silvio Rend\u00f3n, and Mark Weisbrot published in August in The Lancet Global Health<\/em>. More than half of these deaths are children under five, and deaths of infants are even more disproportionate, since they are three-quarters of the under-five population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sanctions on Cuba starkly illustrate how these economic sanctions work: they target the civilian population, often with the goal of provoking regime change,\u201d said Mark Weisbrot, CEPR Co-Director. \u201cThis can dramatically increase death rates, as shown statistically in the Lancet Global Health<\/em> study of economic sanctions throughout the world. The increased mortality in Cuba fits this pattern, and the causality is visible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US Senate may vote as early as Tuesday, April 28, on a War Powers Resolution<\/a> introduced by Senators Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff, and Ruben Gallego to \u201cto prevent [US] Armed Forces from engaging in hostilities [against Cuba] unless authorized by Congress.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation<\/a> pending in Congress right now argues<\/a> persuasively that the current blockade constitutes a military participation in hostilities that is unlawful according to the US Constitution and law because it has not been authorized by Congress,\u201d Weisbrot said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collective punishment of civilians is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention when there is armed conflict, and can be prosecuted as a war crime. This would appear to be applicable now that the current naval blockade involves the US military.\u201d <\/p>\n

The report also describes the vulnerability of newborn babies in Cuba to the impact of blackouts and fuel scarcity \u2014 as recently reported<\/a> by The New York Times. \u201cThe blockade has had a particularly dire effect on Cuba\u2019s health-care infrastructure, with frequent power outages interrupting the use of critical equipment for the treatment of patients, including incubators for premature babies, and ventilators to help sick newborns breathe,\u201d Guillaume Long, CEPR Senior Research Fellow and coauthor said.<\/p>\n

The report notes: \u201cGiven the effects of the US energy blockade, it is highly likely that Cuba\u2019s infant mortality rate has increased significantly since December of 2025, when it had reached 9.9 per 1000 live births. Other key health indicators, such as life expectancy and maternal mortality have also very likely deteriorated since the beginning of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the expansion of US sanctions against Cuba beginning in 2017 were likely the primary cause of a major increase in infant mortality in Cuba. The report, by Alexander Main, Joe Sammut, Mark Weisbrot, and Guillaume Long examines the unprecedented increase in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[742],"class_list":["post-3354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ciencia-y-tecnologia","tag-vr-news-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vr-news.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}