In a public statement, more than 1,000 academics from over 36 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa have issued a call urging their colleagues around the world “not to remain complicitly silent in the face of the crimes systematically and extensively perpetrated by the government of the United States against the Cuban people.”
The document denounces the energy blockade imposed by Washington since January of this year, which adds to the hundreds of unilateral coercive measures imposed by Donald Trump’s administration and more than six decades of economic, commercial, and financial blockade against the largest island in the Caribbean.
It also declares that these measures violate international law and constitute crimes against humanity, as well as collective punishment against the entire Cuban population. The statement cites the infant mortality rate as an example, claiming that it has increased by 148% since 2018, rising from 4 deaths per 1,000 live births to 9.9 in 2025, as a direct consequence of U.S. policy.
The signatories say they view “with great hope the emergence of voices among academics in the United States and other countries who, with rigor and courage, denounce these crimes.” However, they also express concern that some academics have joined “the chorus of the State Department, whose work does not enrich academic debate and instead becomes material used as a tool” in the commission of crimes against humanity.
Among the signatories of the appeal A Call to Academia on the Situation in Cuba: Silence Is Complicity are Alberto Rocha Valencia (Mexico); Allisa Trotz (Canada); Ana Esther Ceceña (Mexico); Anton Allahar (Canada); Atilio Borón (Argentina); Camille Chalmers (Haiti); Carlos E. Martins (Brazil); Claudio Katz (Argentina); Darío Salinas (Mexico); Dídimo Castillo Fernández (Mexico); Emilio Pantojas (Puerto Rico); Eric Toussaint (Belgium); Fernando Estenssoro (Chile); Francisco López Segrera (Cuba); Gabriel Rockhill (United States); Helen Yaffe (United Kingdom); Irene León (Ecuador); Isaac Saney (Canada); Jaime Estay (Mexico); Jaime Zuluaga (Colombia); Javier Vadell (Brazil); Jason Hickel (United States); and Jeffrey Sachs (United States/Nicaragua).
Other signatories include John Kirk (Canada); José Ramón Cabañas (Cuba); Josefina Morales (Mexico); Leandro Morgenfeld (Argentina); Luis Bernardo Pericás (Brazil); Luiz Eduardo Motta (Brazil); Maribel Aponte (Puerto Rico); Matías Bosch Carcuro (Dominican Republic); Mónica Bruckmann (Peru); Pablo Vommaro (Argentina); Par Kumaraswami (United Kingdom); Ramón Grosfoguel (United States); Raúl Rodríguez (Cuba); Renzo Llorente (Spain); Ricardo Domínguez Guadarrama (Mexico); Sacha Sergio Llorenti (Bolivia); Sandra Kanety Zavaleta Hernández (Mexico); Steve Ellner (United States); Tamara Lajtman (Brazil); and Teishan A. Latner (United States).