WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) – Jamaican-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has written to United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging an end to the oil blockades imposed on Cuba.

In the letter, Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), appeals to the Trump administration to “relieve the economic pressure on the island, which has led to an increase in infant mortality rates, the threat of starvation, and a declining standard of living for innocent Cuban civilians.

“Under the administration’s oil blockade and tightening of sanctions, Cubans are dying,” said Clarke, who represents the predominantly 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York.

She refers to reports that indicate that, as a result of the sanctions, the infant mortality rate in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country has more than doubled since 2018.

“With food shortages leading to more underweight pregnant mothers and their newborns, too many Cuban children are unable to make it out of the hospital and home to their families,” says the congresswoman, stating that the CBC has “long encouraged the United States to be a leader on the global stage in supporting peace and justice.”

“Enough is enough,” says Clarke in her letter. “The Congressional Black Caucus will not stand by and allow this administration to continue this barbaric policy that generates unimaginable human suffering in Cuba.

“We are demanding that you end the oil blockade, lift the sanctions on Cuba, and allow the Cuban people access to the most basic resources they need to sustain life on the island,” she adds.

Clarke letter comes as the Trump administration on Wednesday deployed the U.S.S Nimitz aircraft carrier and three escort warships in the Caribbean Sea in ramping up pressure on Havana.

The deployment coincided with the United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unsealing of a superseding indictment charging former Cuban President Raul Castro and co-defendants for the 1996 shoot-down of Brothers to the Rescue Aircraft.

The DOJ said it was charging Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, along with Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, for their alleged roles in the Feb. 24, 1996 shoot-down of two unarmed US civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR), also known as Hermanos al Rescate, over international waters.