Cuba in Crisis: Canada’s Dilemma
Summary of: “As Cuba faces mounting crises, should Canada increase its foreign aid — or support U.S. efforts to force a regime change?”

Toronto Star, March 21, 2026 | Katharine Lake Berz

Background & Context

Trump’s threats to “take over” Cuba have re-ignited debate over Canada’s long-standing policy of engagement with Havana.
Washington is tightening sanctions and threatening tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba, raising pressure on Ottawa to take a harder line.
The article features a debate between two Canadian voices: Michael Lima (Cuban-Canadian human rights researcher, NGO Democratic Spaces) and Christie Neufeldt (Latin America officer, United Church of Canada / Americas Policy Group).

Cuba faces severe shortages of food, medicine, safe water, health care, and transportation.
No fuel has entered the country for three months, leaving it nearly paralyzed. A pregnant woman recently gave birth on the street because no ambulance was available.
Canada announced $8 million in humanitarian assistance for Cuba last month.
More than 1,200 political prisoners are held in reported squalid conditions, with no Red Cross prison visits since 1989.

The 60-year U.S. economic blockade is a primary cause of Cuba’s crisis; Trump’s fuel tariff threats have worsened it.
Canada should scale up neutral, unconditional humanitarian aid based on need alone — not political conditions.
Canada should oppose U.S. intervention aimed at regime change, upholding international law on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Canada joined 164 UN member states in October calling for an end to the U.S. embargo. Unilateral sanctions violate the UN Charter.
Cuban civil society partners on the ground fear U.S. military intervention and potential loss of life.

Cuba is a failed state. The root cause of suffering is the political system itself — not the embargo.
Cubans protesting in the streets call for freedom and an end to dictatorship — not an end to sanctions. Only 3% of Cubans in a recent poll cited the embargo as the main source of problems.
Canada’s decades of “constructive engagement” have failed — Cuba now has more political prisoners than at any time since the 1960s.
Canada should apply Magnitsky-style targeted sanctions (asset freezes, travel bans) against specific Cuban Interior Ministry officials responsible for repression — as it has done with Venezuela and Iran.
Canada should call for the release of all political prisoners, legalization of NGOs and pro-democracy groups, and multi-party elections.
Canada should use its embassy to meet with human rights defenders and remove Cuba’s state TV channel (Cubavisión Internacional) from Canadian airwaves.
Over one million Cubans fled the country in the past two years alone — the largest exodus in Cuban history.

Both agree ordinary Cubans are suffering and that Canada should provide humanitarian aid with greater transparency.
They sharply disagree on the root cause: Neufeldt points to the U.S. blockade; Lima points to the communist political system.
They also disagree on whether Canadian solidarity should align with Cuban civil society (Lima) or with Cuba’s sovereignty against U.S. intervention (Neufeldt).

Summary prepared from Toronto Star, March 21, 2026. Original article by Katharine Lake Berz.