Suzanne Adely, IADL Bureau member and President of the National Lawyers Guild (U.S.) spoke at a Congressional shadow hearing on “Breaking the Blockade: Reassessing the Moral and Legal Failures of U.S.-Cuba Policy” on September 2, 2026. Shadow hearings are convened by the minority party in Congress with all of the formality of an official Congressional hearing; the hearing was convened by Congresswomen Delia Ramírez and Ilhan Omar, together with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including NLG member Rashida Tlaib.
Speakers included Dr. Tania Zakrison of the University of Chicago Medical Center; Rev. Dr. Robert Turner of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Maryland; Felix Sharpe Caballero, a Cuban-American living in Detroit; and Suzanne Adely, IADL Bureau member and NLG President.
After the speakers detailed the medical, human and legal crises caused by U.S. aggression towards Cuba, including the illegality of the blockade, Ramirez vowed to work to bring the blockade against Cuba to an end in Congress, highlighting three pieces of legislation:
- R.7521 and its companion S. 136, the United States Cuba Trade Act to lift the blockade.
- Resolution 1056 to Annul the Monroe Doctrine, which advocates for “terminating all unilateral economic sanctions imposed through Executive orders, and working with Congress to terminate all unilateral sanctions, such as the Cuba embargo, mandated by law.”
- Con.Res 106 to Stop Unauthorized Military Action in Cuba.
Watch a video of the hearing (originally from Rep. Ramirez’ facebook page):
The text of Suzanne Adely’s remarks is below:
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Good afternoon.
The U.S. economic blockade on Cuba violates peremptory norms of international law and the UN Charter, particularly the principle of sovereign equality under Article 2(1). For over three decades, the UN General Assembly has passed annual resolutions—by overwhelming majorities—condemning the blockade and demanding its end. The UN Human Rights Council has also affirmed that these unilateral coercive measures breach international humanitarian and human rights law.
Despite this global consensus, the blockade has not only continued but intensified since January 2026. New measures include a crippling fuel embargo affecting all economic and social sectors, coercive actions against individuals and key industries, and extraterritorial secondary sanctions that infringe on the sovereignty of third states. These actions accompany U.S. threats of illegal military aggression.
The U.S. justification—that Cuba poses an “extraordinary threat” to national security—is legally untenable. A small island subjected to six decades of economic warfare cannot credibly threaten the United States. Likewise, Cuba’s designation as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” is arbitrary and politically motivated. It contradicts objective counter-terrorism criteria and ignores documented violations by other states, undermining the credibility of the list itself.
Cuba is under siege. The blockade deprives Cubans of food, medicine, and fuel—necessities for the right to life, health, and an adequate standard of living under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It constitutes collective punishment against civilians for exercising their self-determination, a foundational principle of international law.
Many legal experts argue these acts amount to crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, involving inhumane acts causing serious bodily harm and conditions aimed at physical destruction. Given documented U.S. objectives—such as those in Lester Mallory’s 1960 memorandum—there is also a legal basis for considering genocide.
Successive U.S. administrations have acted as though they are not bound by sovereign equality, peaceful coexistence, or self-determination. This is underscored by the killing of over 200 civilians on fishing boats throughout the Caribbean—criminal acts with no legal or moral justification.
At stake are not only the lives of millions of Cubans but also the integrity of the international legal system. It is imperative to end the impunity of the Trump administration for crimes committed against Cuba and elsewhere.
We support U.S. negotiations to end the fuel siege, provided they fully respect Cuba’s sovereignty. If that proves impossible, the international community must find ways to end complicity and defend its own sovereignty against the blockade’s extraterritorial effects.