Trump Freezes Immigration Cases as Blackouts and Health Crises Grip Cuba
To receive the U.S. Cuba News Brief in your email, click here
Before we begin today’s U.S.–Cuba News Brief, we want to take a moment to thank you. This year’s Giving Tuesday brought us one step closer to our year-end fundraising goal, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who contributed.
If this brief is something you rely on—if it helps you stay informed, supports your work, or offers clarity on U.S.–Cuba relations—we hope you will consider supporting it. If every reader donated just $2, we would reach our Giving Tuesday goal. We do this work because it matters ,and because readers like you make it possible.
This is also an especially important moment to support organizations like CEDA that sustain the research, fact-checking, and analysis that go into helping you navigate a fast-moving policy landscape. As we cover in this edition, the Trump administration has paused all asylum applications, including green card processing, as part of a broader shift in which the U.S. government frames mass migration as “an existential threat to Western civilization.”
As part of this policy change, the Trump administration specifically targeted Cubans, alongside 18 other nationalities, by placing a hold on all pending immigration cases for Cubans and beginning the re-review of cases for those who arrived in the US on or after January 20, 2021.
On the island, daily life continues to be marked by hardship. A major blackout on December 3 affected communities from Pinar del Río to Mayabeque, just weeks after Hurricane Melissa severely impacted 2.2 million people. The combination of storm damage, aging infrastructure, and strained public services has fueled a rise in mosquito-borne illnesses, resulting in 33 deaths, including 21 children, since July.
At the same time, Cuba’s government has focused on attacking elTOQUE, accusing the outlet of manipulating the informal exchange rate it publishes on its website, while attempting to salvage the island's ongoing decline in foreign investment and trade.
If this reporting matters to you, please consider making a donation today—even $2 helps. Donate here.
This week in Cuba news…
Trump Pauses Immigration Cases from 19 Countries Including Cuba
On December 2, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a policy memo ordering a pause on immigration applications tied to President Donald Trump’s June 9 travel ban, which fully blocks Haitian nationals from entering the US and partially restricts Cubans and Venezuelans. Key directives in the memo include:
Immediate freeze on all asylum-related applications, including green card applications (I-485), removal of conditions (I-751), green card replacements (I-90), travel documents (I-131), and naturalization-related forms such as the N-470.
Hold on all pending immigration benefits for applicants from the 19 countries covered by the travel ban, regardless of when they entered the US.
Re-review of all cases involving nationals from these countries who arrived on or after January 20, 2021.
The memo cites the tragic killing of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national, who entered with humanitarian parole in 2021 and received asylum in April 2025, as evidence of failures in screening and vetting.
Within 90 days, USCIS plans to compile a list of individuals for potential referral to immigration enforcement or other law enforcement agencies. The required re-review of asylum seekers from the 19 countries is expected to worsen an already severe backlog: 1.5 million asylum cases are currently pending.
For Cubans and others from the affected countries, the following services are now paused: family-based status adjustments, Cuban Adjustment Act applicants, naturalizations, changes or extensions of status (impacting those with I-220A), scheduled local office appointments, and citizenship oath ceremonies.
Advocates warn that the freeze will push many immigrants into undocumented status and destabilize families who have lived legally in the U.S. for years and have denounced a policy that they described as the administration’s attempt to “criminalize entire communities” in response to a single tragic incident.
Blackout Hits Western Cuba and Parts of Havana
On December 3, a major blackout swept across the provinces of Pinar del Río and Mayabeque, leaving millions in western Cuba and parts of Havana without power. Government officials reported that the outage stemmed from a failure in the transmission line linking the Santa Cruz and Guiteras thermoelectric plants. The loss of electricity also disrupted water service, worsening sanitation conditions and increasing risks of infectious disease. The incident came on top of ongoing outages in eastern Cuba caused by damage from Hurricane Melissa.
The government said the National Electric System launched “intensive efforts” to restore service, and by 1:26 p.m. local time, the Ministry of Energy and Mines announced that power had been fully restored in the western region. Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel linked the outage to the “daily complexities imposed by the U.S. blockade” and to ongoing recovery efforts from Hurricane Melissa.
Cuba has already experienced five nationwide blackouts in 2025, the most recent in September. Cuba’s electrical grid is severely outdated, and temporary fixes cannot address the system’s underlying structural problems. Without substantial investment and long-term reforms, outages are likely to continue. As we reported in our last edition of this brief, Cuba is attempting to address this issue in some part through a China-funded solar project.
In the Aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, Mosquito-Borne Viruses Kill 33
Cuban authorities reported this week that chikungunya and dengue, mosquito-borne viruses, have killed 33 people in Cuba since July, 21 of whom are children. At least one-third of Cubans have been affected by the rise in these viruses. Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health has previously made statements downplaying the gravity of the situation, denying that these illnesses have caused any deaths.
The deteriorating health conditions on the island, worsened by the destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa, have led to the rapid spread of these viruses. A month after the hurricane, thousands of Cubans living in the eastern part of the island remain without electricity and many are still without shelter.
The Florida Department of Health (DOH) has also reported the spread of chikungunya, a virus once rare in Cuba, within the state. As of November 15, the DOH reported a total of 73 travel-related cases of chikungunya, 62 tied to Cuba in 2025. Likewise, out of 355 cases of dengue fever, 252 cases are among travelers from Cuba. The CDC has warned travelers to Cuba to take enhanced precautions, recommending vaccination for those who do choose to travel.
Cuba Announces New Measures to Revitalize Foreign Investment
Cuba’s government has announced a wide-ranging set of reforms aimed at easing long-standing barriers to foreign investment. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Investment Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga said the plans aim to create a “simpler, more agile and more transparent” environment for international businesses. Cuba says it currently has 376 foreign businesses operating on the island and has approved 32 new businesses this year worth $2.1 billion, although this has not been verified.
Key proposed changes include:
Allowing foreign companies to operate and pay workers in dollars.
Letting investors directly hire employees and purchase real estate.
Permitting firms to import their own fuel when needed.
Streamlining authorizations and reducing long-criticized bureaucratic delays.
The announcement comes as the government quietly imposed new limits on foreign companies’ ability to withdraw or transfer hard currency abroad, a move that businesses and diplomats say reflects Havana’s urgent need to hold onto dollars.
The government is also considering allowing foreign firms to open bank accounts abroad, and offering access to underused state assets, including sugar mills, energy facilities, and rail infrastructure, under agreements that would eventually return those assets to the state. New “special development zones” tailored to sectors like real estate and technology are also under review.
Cuban economists caution that the reforms may not be enough to overcome deep-rooted credibility issues. DC-based Cuban economist Ricardo Torres wrote, “the package mixes demands that have been on the table for decades with decisions that are largely common sense. These are adjustments that may ease some micro-level frictions and improve the viability of certain ventures at the margin, but they do not change the structural conditions that weigh on capital inflows…Rather than a strategic turn, the list looks more like an attempt to “lubricate” an exhausted model without touching its basic architecture.”
Alongside these changes, Cuba’s government has approved a new policy that provides non-agricultural Micro, Small, and Medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives involved in wholesale trade with greater flexibility by expanding the scope of their relationships with state-owned enterprises and other officially recognized entities. It is also confirmed that MSMEs, as well as self-employed workers, are now allowed to market their products both wholesale and retail.
Cuba’s Government Continues Its Campaign Against elTOQUE
In Cuba’s latest move in its campaign against elTOQUE, state-run media outlet Razones de Cuba published photos and files on 18 elTOQUE staff members living in the US, Mexico, and Spain, alleging they are coordinating “actions against national sovereignty.”
As we noted in our last news brief, Cuba’s government has accused the independent outlet of manipulating the island’s informal exchange rate. elTOQUE publishes daily estimates of the black-market rate based on its own methodology—widely used in a heavily dollarized economy where official exchange mechanisms are limited.
Cuba’s government has repeatedly targeted elTOQUE. In 2024, as the dollar neared 400 CUP on the informal market, officials launched a defamation campaign and threatened criminal charges against the outlet.
Editor-in-chief José Jasán Nieves told El País that the attacks are meant to distract the public “at a time when [the government] is extremely vulnerable, with multiple crises on their hands—health, financial, energy, and food—exacerbated by Hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba.”
Amnesty International Releases Report on Violence Against Women In Cuba
On November 26, Amnesty International released a report investigating the repression and violence perpetrated against women human rights defenders, activists, and journalists by Cuban authorities. This investigation uses interviews and document and case analysis to provide a picture of how Cuban authorities use the state's institutional structures to continuously suppress dissent and criticism.
The report finds that Cuban women face targeted, gender-based repression driven by authoritarian practices, including psychological, institutional, and symbolic violence as well as the manipulation of familial roles and private life as tools of intimidation. It also highlights the lack of judicial accountability and effective protection mechanisms, leaving these women vulnerable.
As we reported in our last brief, Feminist platform Yo Si Te Creo En Cuba (YSTCC) and Alas Tensas (OGAT) have confirmed 42 cases of femicide in Cuba so far in 2025. Advocacy organizations in Cuba are critical in holding the state accountable for its lack of institutional response to gender-based violence. This, combined with a lack of legal protocols concerned with femicide, makes civil society all the more imperative in representing the women in the country.
In response to the report, Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, claimed that the US ignores and underreports its own femicides for political reasons, condemning the publication by utilizing a report by Frontiers to contrast Cuba’s femicide rates to those of the US.
Over 600,000 Cubans Have Applied for Spanish Citizenship in 2025
According to sources at Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation who spoke to 14ymedio, Cuban applicants for Spanish citizenship now exceed 600,000 as of 2025. Over 350,000 Cubans living on the island already have Spanish citizenship.
Initially, the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad (CGCEE) had forecasted around 350,000 applications by Cubans. While significant, this figure represents a small share of the 2.3 million people who have applied for or requested appointments for Spanish citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law. The Democratic Memory Law, also known as the Grandchildren’s Law, came into effect in October 2022. It sought to address historical injustices by allowing descendants of Spaniards who were exiled or persecuted for political, ideological, or religious reasons to obtain Spanish citizenship. Although the law was extended until October 22, 2025, the application window has now closed.
Members of Congress Back Havana Docks Case in Supreme Court
A group of U.S. lawmakers has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to side with the Havana Docks Corporation in its case against several major cruise lines.
Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26) submitted the brief on November 24, joined by Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28), Lois Frankel (FL-22), and Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11). The filing argues that weakening Title III of the Helms-Burton Act would undermine U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba and limit the ability of victims of property confiscations to seek justice in U.S. courts.
The lawmakers’ filing follows the Supreme Court’s decision in early October to hear the case Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., in which Havana Docks is seeking to reinstate $440 million in judgments against cruise companies that used Havana port facilities seized during the Cuban revolution.
The case turns on Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows U.S. nationals to sue companies that “traffic” in property confiscated by the Cuban government. Although the law was passed in 1996, every U.S. president suspended this provision until it was activated in 2019 under the first Trump administration. According to a November 25 press release, the lawmakers say Congress intended Title III to ensure that individuals whose property was seized by Fidel Castro’s government can hold companies accountable if they knowingly profited from that property.
Honduras Reports Continued Flow of Cuban Migrants
Despite Honduras' 90 percent drop in foreign migration compared to last year, Cubans continue to enter the country via Nicaragua, a pattern fueled by the visa-free travel agreement between Havana and Managua. Exact figures remain unclear due to Nicaragua’s censorship of government data.
So far this year, 16,790 Cubans have entered Honduras, making them the largest migrant group and nearly doubling the second-largest group, Haitians (8,341). Data published by La Prensa shows that between January and July 2025, more than 21,000 migrants heading to the US crossed into Honduras from Nicaragua, 83 percent of them Cuban. In just the first six days of November, Cubans accounted for 44 percent of all recorded entries.
Since late 2021, when Nicaragua dropped its visa requirement for Cuban citizens, the country has become a common transit route for Cubans traveling north — often using charter flights and paying brokers thousands of dollars for onward journeys. Media reporting describes this as a growing migration corridor and, in some cases, a lucrative migration-related industry for those facilitating such flows.
Recommended Reading, Viewing, Events
Read | The Economist: Cuba is heading for disaster, unless its regime changes drastically
Read | El País: Tension in the Caribbean reverberates in Havana: ‘Venezuela is crucial for the Cuban political elites’
View | Reuters: A trip back in time in Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains
Read | El País: Cuba is the country with the most convictions for arbitrary detention in the world, according to the UN
Read | Reuters: UN human-rights expert urges U.S. to lift sanctions amid Cuba’s humanitarian crisis
Read | Associated Press: Thousands of Cubans struggle without power and water nearly a month after Hurricane Melissa
Read | El País (Spanish): La generación de cubanos que votó por Zohran Mamdani en Nueva York: “La palabra ‘socialismo’ ya no asusta tanto”
