A Democratic congresswoman from New York wants Congress to protect the Cuban regime from the consequences of its own decisions. On Tuesday, Nydia Velázquez introduced a War Powers Resolution to prevent President Trump from launching a military offensive in Cuba without congressional authorization.
On paper, it sounds like a reasonable constitutional principle. In practice, it’s political cover for one of the most brutal regimes in the hemisphere — offered at the precise moment when that regime is most isolated and most vulnerable.
The Context Velázquez Doesn’t Want You to See
Cuba is collapsing. Since January 2026, the island lost its Venezuelan oil supply after the United States arrested Nicolás Maduro. That oil was virtually free — the Castro regime’s payment for keeping Maduro in power and providing him security services. The deal is over. And with it went the electricity.
Blackouts now run 10 to 16 hours a day. Hospitals operate on generators that run out of fuel. Public transit has collapsed. Cubans began taking to the streets in the darkness — literally, using the cover of security cameras going offline — to bang pots and pans, start fires, and chant against 67 years of communist rule.
The regime’s response was not to restore power. It was to beat anyone found outside at night. According to testimonies published by Diario de Cuba, police have standing orders to stop and assault anyone on the street during blackouts — accused of being “prone to protest.” One man went out to take out his trash and ended up at a police station, badly beaten. Another, buying cigarettes, ended up bleeding from the nose.
That is the regime Velázquez wants to protect from “Trump’s intervention.”
What the Resolution Says
Velázquez’s resolution, obtained by El País, argues that Congress has not declared war on Cuba or authorized the use of military force. It cites Trump’s naval blockade of the Cuban electrical grid — which she describes as an attack on infrastructure — and the president’s statements about wanting to “take” Cuba as evidence that the executive branch is out of control.
The resolution will almost certainly fail. Similar measures on Venezuela and Iran died in the Republican-controlled Congress. But Velázquez will use it as a political platform for her final months in office before retiring in January 2027.
What Is Actually at Stake
The American left has spent decades functioning as a diplomatic shield for the Cuban regime. When the Castro government needs international oxygen, the Velázquezes, the Bernie Sanderses, and the CodePinks of the world appear — talking about “blockades” and “sovereignty” while ignoring the prisons full of dissidents, the executions, and today, Cubans beaten bloody for stepping outside at night.
What this resolution protects is not the Constitution. It is the impunity of a regime that has governed through force, scarcity, and fear for 67 years.
Trump may have his own motives for pressuring Cuba. But the pressure is working. The regime is more isolated than at any point since the fall of the Soviet Union. Cubans are taking to the streets. Communism on the island is showing its first real signs of collapse.
And at this precise moment — this exact moment — the Democratic left wants Congress to tie Trump’s hands.
Our Position
We support any legitimate pressure on the Castro regime. Not for imperialism. Not to “take” Cuba. But because 67 years is enough. Because my family left that island carrying only what they could hold in their hands. Because there are Cubans today who are afraid to take out their trash at night.
Velázquez has every constitutional right to introduce her resolutions. We have the right — and the obligation — to call them what they are: political cover for one of Latin America’s cruelest regimes in its most vulnerable hour.
Free Cuba. Not resolutions that protect the people keeping it in chains.
Sources: El País English — Velázquez resolution | Breitbart / Diario de Cuba — beatings testimonies