Mark Weisbrot argues in the Los Angeles Times that the US oil blockade and sanctions on Cuba amounts to collective punishment that constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Weisbrot notes that an estimated 564,000 people worldwide die annually from unilateral – mostly US – economic sanctions, comparable to total annual deaths from armed conflict. These sanctions constitute war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention when they are done during armed conflict. Weisbrot points to the current war powers resolutions in the US House and Senate, which show that US military involvement in the blockade is unconstitutional armed conflict; and therefore the Geneva Conventions apply. Over the past decade of increasing sanctions, Cuba’s infant mortality rate has doubled.
“Bringing the Geneva Conventions and their prohibition of war crimes into the fight against lethal economic sanctions can raise the legal and political cost of enforcing them,” Weisbrot writes.
As we note on our Live Tracker, following a recent delegation to Cuba, Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson called the policy “cruel collective punishment” that “must stop immediately.” We will continue to monitor the situation in the region, including the oil blockade and other sanctions. See more below.
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| | March 2026 CPI Preview: What to Expect
Inflation data that will be released on Friday should provide strong evidence that the war on Iran is having immediate economic impacts. In a preview piece, Dean Baker looks at how prices are moving in various sectors of the economy, and explains why there were already some troubling warning signs before the White House chose to go to war.
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| US Sanctions on Venezuela’s Central Bank Cause Suffering and Scarcity
In new analysis in Phenomenal World, Andrés Arauz and Michael Galant write about Venezuela’s central bank (BCV) and why it is crucial for Venezuela’s economic recovery and stability that the US lift sanctions on it. They note that the “BCV is not just a government bank. As in most countries, it is a bank of banks for the public and private sector alike, acting as the ‘clearinghouse of the financial system.’ Sanctions against [it] … incapacitate the country’s entire financial infrastructure.”
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| Trump Administration Gutting FEMA: What That Means for the Next Katrina
The Trump administration has been working to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, often by arguing that states should assume more responsibility for shouldering the burden of disaster recovery. In a piece published by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Matt Sedlar outlines the many ways that the White House has done damage to FEMA – and what that could mean for communities that are hard hit by the next natural disaster.
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| A Russian Oil Tanker Reaches Cuba Amid Ongoing Sanctions
Trump eases sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and mining sectors while the US issues a general license for Russian oil purchases, a new license allows limited sale of Iranian oil, Israel further restricts aid to Gaza, and Afghanistan is designated a “State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention.” Read about all of this and more in our March Sanctions Watch bulletin. |
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| Data Centers and Price Spikes: Why the Public Should Own Its Utilities
Hyperscale data centers are expanding across the country – and so is public opposition to the projects, based on concerns over water use, pollution and soaring electricity costs. Lisa Burnam explores the issues in a Data Bytes piece, and points to evidence that publicly-owned utilities would offer a better way to constrain costs and give the public more of a voice in the battle over AI data centers.
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| CEPR at Events During IMF Spring Meetings
CEPR experts will participate in two events next week during the IMF’s Spring Meetings. Mark Weisbrot will speak at the April 14 Latindadd-organized event, “Towards Greater Coherence between Fiscal and Monetary Policy” (watch here). And Ivana Vasic-Lalovic will present in the April 16 event, “Private-Sector Assets in the International Investment Position,” which Andrés Arauz will moderate (watch here).
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Know someone who would want to work at what The Washington Post calls one “of the most prominent think tanks on the left?” CEPR has an opening for a Director of Development. See details and how to apply here.
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USA Today, quoting Dean Baker, Trump Has Americans Missing Biden's Economy. No, Really.
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Urban View Mornings (Africana Carr), interviewing Jake Johnston, What to Make of "The Shield of the Americas?"
- The Nation, citing Dean Baker, Trump’s Imperial Military Budget
- The American Prospect, quoting Guilaume Long, Donald Trump’s Drug War in Ecuador
- The American Prospect, quoting Eileen Appelbaum, Private Equity’s Great Escape
- Wyoming Star, quoting Pedro Labayen Herrera, EXCLUSIVE: US Security Ties, Shrinking Space: Ecuador in Focus
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