{"id":46672,"date":"2026-02-13T12:11:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46672"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:11:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:11:04","slug":"what-did-these-cuban-children-do-to-trump-us-embargo-blamed-as-infant-mortality-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/what-did-these-cuban-children-do-to-trump-us-embargo-blamed-as-infant-mortality-soars\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018What Did These Cuban Children Do to Trump?\u2019: US Embargo Blamed as Infant Mortality Soars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ariannis<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ariannis C\u00e9sar Mart\u00ednez, age 4, suffers from kidney cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Cuban Ministry of Health)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs there anything worse than a child dying of cancer when it was preventable?\u201d asked one observer.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 12, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infant mortality is on the rise in Cuba<\/a> as the Trump administration<\/a> tightens a decadeslong economic embargo on the island nation in hopes of toppling a socialist government that\u2019s outlasted a dozen US presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to<\/a> the United Nations<\/a> Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, infant mortality in Cuba\u2014which plummeted dramatically in the decades after the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution\u2014has increased from 4 to 7.4 per 1,000 live births since 2018, an 85% increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cuba<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pushing for Regime Change, Trump Accused of \u2018Asphyxiating\u2019 Cuba With Fuel Embargo<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Miguel<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cuba Condemns Trump Claim That It Poses \u2018Extraordinary Threat\u2019 to US<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The rise in infant mortality comes amid a deadly surge in mosquito-borne illness, including dengue and chikungunya, that has inundated already struggling hospitals suffering shortages of staff and even basic supplies. Hospitals in Cuba\u2014which in 2015 became the first country in the world to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis\u2014are now reliant upon donations and the black market for their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis is particularly dire among children<\/a> with cancer. Cuba\u2019s free healthcare<\/a> system\u2014which prioritizes the health of the people instead of industry profits, as in the United States\u2014once boasted a pediatric cancer survival rate of 80%, on par with the world\u2019s wealthy nations. Now that\u2019s down to around 65% as the blockade has forced healthcare providers to modify treatment protocols and medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe situation is very serious at the moment. It was already in terms of acquiring supplies and medicines. But now it is intensifying and complicated with other aspects,\u201d Dr. Forteza Sa\u00e9z, an oncologist at Havana\u2019s University of Medical Sciences, told<\/a> La Jornada<\/em> in an interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Luis Curbelo Alonso, former longtime director of the National Institute of Oncology and Radiology in Havana, told\u00a0La Jornada<\/em>: \u201cYou have the knowledge, the expertise, the team to face something that can be curable or can be controllable and yet not have the drug. It\u2019s a very lacerating thing as a professional, very cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/ryangrim\/status\/2021962474124357823?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2021962474124357823%7Ctwgr%5Ea1e777a90552eda6e96ae91df347a69e65a5db3e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fcuba-infant-mortality<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation is also driving Cubans to extreme measures to find treatment. Two-year-old M\u00eda Rey Jim\u00e9nez and her family left their home in Cardenas, Matanzas last May weeks after the child was diagnosed with metastatic stage 4 neuroblastoma, an extremely aggressive childhood cancer requiring complex treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family left Cuba to seek treatment in Nicaragua and then Costa Rica, where Jim\u00e9nez underwent chemotherapy and high-risk surgery. Still left with a tumor in her lung and cancer in her bone marrow, Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s family sought help from Nicklaus Children\u2019s Hospital in Miami, one of the world\u2019s leading specialized facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital agreed to evaluate Jim\u00e9nez and estimated her chances of survival with proper care at up to 80%\u2014more than double her prognosis in Costa Rica. However, the humanitarian visa for which Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s family applied was denied by US authorities due to what they claimed was \u201clack of evidence,\u201d even though the girl\u2019s father resides legally in the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family successfully appealed their denial and Jim\u00e9nez and her mother Liudmila Jim\u00e9nez Matos arrived in Miami in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t be happier,\u201d Jim\u00e9nez Matos told<\/a> Cuba Noticias 360 <\/em>last month. \u201cMy daughter will be treated by doctors who have been waiting for her for a long time. That\u2019s a love for the profession and for saving another life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As President Donald Trump<\/a> tightens the blockade on Cuba following a similar strangulation of Venezuela<\/a> that ended with last month\u2019s US invasion and kidnapping<\/a> of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to face dubious \u201cnarco-terrorism\u201d charges in the United States, critics are renewing calls to end Washington\u2019s embargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imposed in the early 1960s after a successful revolution that overthrew a brutal US-backed dictatorship and replaced it with a socialist government, the blockade\u2014which accompanied a decadeslong campaign of terrorism<\/a> by US-based Cuban exiles\u2014has claimed thousands of Cuban lives and cost the country\u2019s economy more than $1 trillion, according to official estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the blockade 33 times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres warned<\/a> Wednesday of a potential \u201ccollapse\u201d of Cuba\u2019s economy if the US keeps blocking oil<\/a> from entering the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.), who visited Cuba in 2024 as part of a delegation of progressive US lawmakers, called<\/a> the ramped-up embargo, which is now targeting fuel imports, as \u201ccruel and despotic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Havana, Cuban doctors vowed to do the best they can for their patients under the harrowing circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to resist,\u201d Dr. Carlos Alberto Mart\u00ednez, head of the Ministry of Health\u2019s cancer control section, told\u00a0La Jornada<\/em>. \u201cWe will continue to look for alternatives that allow the\u00a0sustainability<\/a>\u00a0of what has been achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ariannis C\u00e9sar Mart\u00ednez, age 4, suffers from kidney cancer.  (Photo by Cuban Ministry of Health) \u201cIs there anything worse than a child dying of cancer when it was preventable?\u201d asked one observer. Brett Wilkins Feb 12, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) Infant mortality is on the rise in Cuba as the Trump administration tightens a decadeslong economic… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46672"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46673,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46672\/revisions\/46673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}