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Trump’s Economic Vise Leaves Cubans Desperate for Food and Medicine

The U.S. says its sanctions are not aimed at depriving Cuba of essential goods. Thousands of stranded shipping containers tell a different story.

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Ed Augustin reported from Havana.

Sept. 17, 2026Leer en español

Thousands of containers filled with food, medicine and other goods bound for Cuba have been stranded throughout the Caribbean since two shipping giants stopped deliveries to avoid tough U.S. sanctions, according to diplomats, Cuban officials, merchants and others involved in the imports.

The containers stranded in various ports include humanitarian aid, from solar panels to medication to colostomy bags. Dozens of containers of aid purchased by different United Nations agencies are among them.

U.S. sanctions have also hobbled shipments by air, and forced the World Health Organization to scrap planned deliveries of cancer drugs.

The challenges of delivering vital materials have sharply aggravated longstanding shortages, added to an enormous backlog of patients awaiting surgery and sent grocery prices soaring as Cubans live through the island’s worst humanitarian crisis since the 1959 revolution. With food becoming prohibitively expensive, hunger is rising and soup kitchens are struggling to fill the gap.

The Trump administration has imposed an economic vise on Cuba and its ruling communist party to try to force political and economic change.

In January, the administration imposed an oil blockade on the island. Then in May, it cranked up the pressure by announcing that foreign companies working with certain Cuban state entities risked having their assets frozen and being locked out of doing business with U.S. companies and banks.

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By Ed Augustin and Frances Robles

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