Our faith calls us to honor the dignity and self-determination of every people, including the people of Cuba. Cuba has long been plagued by the strangle hold the United States has placed on it with the embargo and sanctions levied for the past 60 years. Now, with damage to infrastructure across the island nation from Hurricane Melissa in 2025, mosquito-borne viruses infecting 1/3 of the population, and a new set of sanctions impacting the ability of the Cuban government to buy oil, Cuba faces a severe humanitarian crisis.  However, instead of offering support to our neighboring country, the U.S. Department of State and some members of Congress are setting their sights on Cuba to bring about regime change. 

The United States government does not supersede the will of the Cuban people. After watching the U.S. intervene in Venezuela in January and in Iran in late February, there is no reason to trust the methods by which the U.S. would go about regime change in Cuba. Each nation’s people have the right to self-determination. That right cannot be infringed upon for any reason. 

The United Church of Christ has long called for peace between the US and Cuba. Over the past few decades, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ has passed multiple resolutions calling on our government to end the embargo and allow for normalized travel between the U.S. and Cuba. The United Church of Christ, through Global Ministries, continues to hold deep partnerships with Cuban churches and organizations as we, the church, seek to love our neighbor and partner together in faith.  

Beyond the moral call to treat our Cuban neighbors with love, we are hampering the health of this region by continuing this embargo. Cuba’s biomedical field and medical mission staff have helped the peoples of neighboring nations by sharing their knowledge and continuing to develop necessary medical advances that we in the United States do not share due to our own stubbornness.  

Congress, and Congress alone, has the power to declare war. S.J.Res. 124 would prevent the President from taking military action in Cuba without congressional approval. Congress must uphold checks and balances and stop dangerous executive overreach. 

It is our responsibility as people of faith and constituents of the United States to tell the President and our Congressional Officials, hands off Cuba! Write to your congressional members today to tell them you don’t want a Cuba incursion.