“Every week a new sanction, a new restriction, a new way to punish the Cuban people and limit the right of Americans to travel to the island and meet with whomever we want emerges,” said the co-founder of the peace organization CodePink.

This week, new sanctions were announced against organizations in Cuba, including the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP), which helps organize trips for groups from around the world, facilitating access to Cuban hospitals, schools, organic farms, and institutions, she noted.

Amistur Cuba, the travel agency that manages transportation and logistics for many international visitors, was also sanctioned, added the journalist and writer. Benjamin warned that “these sanctions are part of a much broader and crueler campaign aimed at increasingly suffocating the Cuban economy” in an attempt to “bring down the government.”

She stated that, regarding Cuba, Washington’s policy is “vindictive, hypocritical, and cruel. It harms Cuban families, but it also undermines the bonds between people and deprives us—American citizens—of our fundamental freedom to travel.”

It is time to put an end to this failed policy, Benjamin demanded, calling for “leave Cuba alone. And let Americans decide for ourselves where to travel, which hotel to stay in, and whom to talk to.”

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