U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) publicly disclosed on Wednesday that she has been directly communicating with ambassadors from Mexico and other Latin American countries to explore ways of delivering oil to Cuba. The admission comes as the Trump administration enforces tightened economic sanctions aimed at pressuring the island’s communist government.
In her remarks, Jayapal detailed the challenges facing Cuba’s energy supply following President Trump’s January executive order threatening tariffs on nations providing fuel to the regime. She noted that oil shipments from Venezuela had been halted and that only one Russian tanker had arrived since January, which supplied enough fuel for just 10 to 14 days of Cuba’s needs.
Russia has indicated plans for another delivery, but Jayapal described the situation as “a crisis beyond imagination.” She then explicitly admitted to coordinating with the regime despite potential military action looming.
“I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places, other countries in Latin America trying to figure out how to get oil there,” the congresswoman revealed.
During the same briefing, she equated the administration’s sanctions to an act of war and took on a sympathetic tone towards the communist regime. “I’ve called these sanctions an economic bombing of the infrastructure of Cuba. It is illegal. Against the war we’ve been talking about this in Iran obviously to bomb the infrastructure of any country that is against international law. This is essentially doing the same thing,” she said.
“It is bombing the infrastructure of Cuba with economic sanctions that essentially ensure that the infrastructure collapses.”
This latest disclosure follows a five-day congressional delegation to Cuba in early April 2026, during which Jayapal and Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, and members of parliament. Upon their return, the two lawmakers issued a joint statement condemning U.S. measures.
“The illegal U.S. blockade of fuel to Cuba—90 miles south of the United States—adds to the longest embargo in world history and is causing untold suffering to the Cuban people. The United States prevented a single drop of oil from entering Cuba for over three months,” the self-styled American lawmakers said in a joint statement. “This is cruel collective punishment—effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country—that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately.”
Jayapal’s admission to colluding with a decades-long American enemy comes as the Trump Administration has launched a broader strategy to isolate the Cuban regime, which has long been designated a state sponsor of terrorism and faces accusations of human rights abuses and political repression.
Cuba has long relied on subsidized oil from allies like Venezuela and Russia to sustain its economy and state-controlled infrastructure. By working to facilitate alternative supplies, Jayapal’s efforts directly challenge the executive branch’s foreign policy tools designed to limit the regime’s resources.
Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), whose district includes many Cuban-American constituents, criticized the earlier delegation, stating that the visit was incompatible with any stated commitment to democracy and amounted to support for a “repressive regime.”
