More than a dozen faith-based organizations have signed a letter urging policymakers and leaders to take steps to reduce hardships for ordinary people in Cuba and to reduce barriers that prevent communities from accessing food, medicine and basic necessities. The letter, being delivered to the White House and Congress, also calls on faith groups to speak out about the suffering of the Cuban people.
Read the letter in full below.
A Call to Stand with the People of Cuba: Faithful Solidarity in a Time of Crisis
As communities of faith, we write out of deep concern for the people of Cuba and out of a shared commitment to peace, compassion, and the protection of human life. We are alarmed by the growing risk of escalation and by clear signals that regime change is being pursued as a goal of U.S. policy toward Cuba. In this moment, we reject any approach that seeks to impose political outcomes through coercion or treats human suffering as leverage.
The U.S. embargo and related restrictions have long contributed to hardship in Cuba by limiting access to resources and weakening the economic conditions that make daily life possible. Cuba also faces serious internal challenges, including mismanagement and shortages driven by multiple factors. We hold in our hearts the many layers of hardship the Cuban people are carrying. We know that some of these burdens arise from long?standing difficulties within the island itself - patterns of governance and policies that have, over time, made daily life more fragile for many families. In all circumstances, our deepest concern is that no action, whether at home or abroad, should add to the suffering of those already facing so much.
In recent weeks, the cutoff of Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and renewed threats of coercion have raised the risk of dangerous escalation. Communities of faith speak clearly in this moment: Cuba's political future must be determined by Cubans themselves, free from external pressure, threats, or interference.
Communities of faith in the United States have been in relationship with Cuban faith communities through prayer, partnership, and accompaniment for more than a century. We have listened as our Cuban partners describe the realities facing their people and the burdens borne most heavily by the vulnerable. We write with urgency to call for policies rooted in humanitarian concern, peace, and respect for human dignity.
Across Cuba, many people are struggling to meet basic needs, including reliable access to food, clean water, electricity, transportation, and safe housing. Reduced fuel supplies have immediate consequences, contributing to blackouts, limited water access, reduced mobility, and disruptions to essential services. When daily life becomes unsustainable, many have no choice but to leave their homes, contributing to hundreds of thousands leaving the island in recent years.
We are especially alarmed by barriers to health care and life-saving medicines. When essential medications are unavailable and clinics and hospitals face shortages, treatable illnesses become life-threatening. No parent should have to search endlessly for antibiotics. No elderly person should have to ration heart medication. No one should fear that an avoidable medical crisis will become a death sentence.
For too many years, U.S. policy toward Cuba has relied on pressure and isolation, harming communities while failing to achieve its stated political goals. This approach has exacted a heavy human toll and has not produced meaningful or lasting change. The true measure of any policy should be whether it reduces human suffering and allows people to live with dignity in their own communities.
We oppose threats of intervention, destabilization, or any effort to force political change through coercion. We call instead for diplomacy, sustained engagement, and people-to-people connection that reduce suffering and help build the foundations for peace. We also affirm the importance of allowing people in Cuba to express their concerns and longings in peaceful ways. The ability to gather, to speak, and to be heard is part of the God-given dignity that belongs to every person, and we pray that such moments be met with understanding and restraint.
We offer this call in solidarity with our Cuban partners and with all who are working to meet urgent human needs. We honor the ministries and community networks that continue to provide care, accompany families, and sustain hope in the face of extraordinary hardship.
A call to action
We urge policymakers and leaders to pursue a course that reduces hardship for ordinary people and expands humanitarian space. We call for steps that:
• Reduce barriers that prevent communities from accessing food, medicine, and basic necessities by lifting the embargo and removing US sanctions
• Enable faith-based and humanitarian partners to provide assistance without fear, obstruction, or unnecessary delay
• Support sustained diplomatic engagement and practical cooperation that serves human life
• Reject rhetoric and strategies that rely on escalation, destabilization, or collective punishment
We call on communities of faith across the United States to respond with prayer, public witness, and active solidarity. Speak about the suffering of the Cuban people in your congregations and communities. Share accurate information and resist rhetoric that treats hardship and instability as acceptable tools of policy. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support a course of engagement that expands humanitarian access and rejects strategies that deepen deprivation in order to force political change.
A prayer
Holy God,
Draw near to all who suffer, and strengthen all who serve their neighbors in hardship.
Provide daily bread where there is scarcity, healing where there is sickness, and hope where there is fear. Sustain those who care for the sick and protect those most at risk.
Turn every heart away from hostility and toward the things that make for peace. Give wisdom to those who hold authority, and compassion to all who shape public policy.
Amen.
Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Home Mission Societies
American Friends Service Committee
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America ~Bautistas por la Paz
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
Church World Service
Cuba Partners Network of the Presbyterian Church, (USA)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Florida Council of Churches
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ
Latin America Working Group
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
Pax Christi USA
Presbyterian Church, (USA)
The United Church of Christ
The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society