The group was on the ground in Cuba as part of an Emergency Mutual Solidarity and Engagement Fact-Finding Delegation.

Organized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) and convened by Dr. Ron Daniels, the broad-based delegation, including journalists, business leaders, and activists, traveled to the island to bear witness to what Cuban officials call “intolerable acts” perpetuated by six decades of U.S. policy.

“The masses of Cuban people have suffered far too long from 67 years of selective, punitive blockades and sanctions imposed by the government of the United States,” Dr. Daniels told The Final Call.

“To add insult to injury, the current administration in Washington is inflicting collective punishment on the Cuban people by imposing a blockade on fuel urgently needed to provide electricity for the nation and sanctions on any nation seeking to assist Cuba to meet its essential needs. Collective punishment of a people is a violation of international law.”

The human cost of the blockade is not abstract. It is measured in closed schools, in dark nights, in empty medicine cabinets, and in impossible choices.

Yanela Gonzalez Gonzalez, a professor at Isri International University, spoke passionately about daily life under the siege. “There is genocide in Cuba, in a silent way among the people,” she said. “It’s very, very bad for the people, and especially for the Black women and our kids.”

She recalled a devastating loss: “Yesterday, my neighbor passed away because she didn’t have transportation to go to the hospital. When she previously tried to go to the hospital, she was told there wasn’t enough medicine to attend to her.”

Her plea was direct: “We need you to share our voices with the people in the United States. We need your solidarity. We need solar panels; we need medicine; we need people to respect the way that we decide to live.”

The delegation met with Carlos Fernández de Cossío, deputy minister at MINREX (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), who detailed the revolutionary gains now under threat.

He reminded the group that Cuba once guaranteed a liter of milk to every child and every pregnant woman, “regardless of who they are, who their parents are, if they’re professionals, if they’re farmers, if they’re delinquents, if they’re in jail, if they’re counterrevolutionary.”

That, he said, is social justice, along with free healthcare and free education for all. For decades, Cuba’s child mortality, maternal mortality, and life expectancy outpaced every country in the hemisphere except Canada.

But today, those gains are crumbling under U.S. economic warfare. Deputy Minister Fernández de Cossío asked plainly: “Is that a crime? Is that a criminal punishment imposed on a population that includes infants?”

The official described a nation that often endures 16 to 42 hours without electricity in the 21st century, with food spoiling, children doing homework at 2:00 a.m. when power returns, and those with respiratory illnesses unable to run medical equipment. Meanwhile, he charged, the U.S. spends $30–50 million annually on propaganda blaming Cuba’s own government for suffering caused by the blockade.

Walking through Cuban neighborhoods, delegation members heard directly from residents.

Alejandro, a man with asthma, explained that because medical supplies are restricted, he can only obtain his inhaler on the black market. “Tell the Americans that we are suffering in Cuba because we can’t get basic care,” he said. “I need my inhaler but can’t find it. If I do, should I pay for it or get food for my family? These are choices people shouldn’t have to make.”

Dr. E. Faye Williams, peace activist, senior advisor to the World Council of Mayors, and former president of the National Congress of Black Women, said the Cubans she met were willing to share their struggles openly. But she stressed solidarity is not one-way.

“I certainly hope that the women we talked with here don’t feel that we have it so good in America,” Dr. Williams told The Final Call. “We, women, have our challenges in America, too. I hope they feel that they’re not alone, and that what we promised to do as we heard what their challenges are, [we will] do what we can to resolve, and also know that we have challenges.”

Dr. Haki Ammi, IBW board member, author, and educator, said the trip clarified the need for stronger organizing. “I’m dissecting the power dynamics, in terms of what Black people actually represent, and how we have to up our ante,” he said.

“The U.S. has oppressed this nation for decades. We have to expose the contradictions in the system, and expose that if the U.S. comes for Cuba, who else are they coming for?”

The delegation met with a range of Cuban officials, including at MINREX, the National Assembly, and municipal levels. They also visited the Afro-Cuban civil society and anti-racist organizations. Their conclusion: The solidarity movement must deepen and broaden.

Dr. Daniels announced that the group will return to the U.S. committed to systematic engagement through channels established by Pastors for Peace, which regularly sends aid to Cuba. They will also urge the Congressional Black Caucus, legacy civil and human rights organizations, and progressive faith groups to demand normalization of relations with Cuba.

“The Black world owes a debt to the people of Cuba,” Dr. Daniels said. “Hopefully, the African Union will have the audacity to follow CARICOM’s lead and defy the rogue regime in the U.S. by assembling an aid package and challenging the blockade.”

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At a June 9 news conference in Washington, D.C., the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) and the Pan African Unity Dialogue (PAUD) unveiled a sweeping action agenda contained in a communique following their May 2026 emergency delegation to Cuba. The trip was for the delegation to witness firsthand the impact of what they called “economic asphyxiation” by the U.S. government.

“Right off of our shores, we are strangling and denying a sovereign nation the ability to have access to oil, and we know that equals death,” said Congressman Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), who traveled to Cuba in April and addressed the news conference. “Beyond these numbers, there are real people.”

Rep. Jackson, whose father, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, was a longtime friend of Cuba, recalled visiting a maternity ward in Havana where ventilators had failed due to power surges caused by the fuel embargo. He drew sharp contrasts between U.S. policy toward Cuba and its relationships with other nations that are considered “communist.”

“The president is best friends with the Communist Party in Russia. The United States’ biggest trading partner is communist China. And yet we have this ongoing fight with the sovereign people of Cuba,” Rep. Jackson said. “It’s time the United States recognizes the island of Cuba. People have their own right to self-determination.”

What the delegation witnessed

The 24-member delegation visited Cuba from May 26-30 and included economists, psychologists, social workers, publishers, clergy, and community organizers.

They met with Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio Domínguez, and Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Cuba’s equivalent of the Speaker of the House.

Dr. Ron Daniels, president of IBW and convener of the delegation, described an hour-long meeting with President Diaz-Canel that far exceeded expectations.

“He said, ‘We’re being accused of being incompetent. I dispute that. But what if we were incompetent? Being incompetent is not a rationale for invasion or for collective punishment of people,’” Dr. Daniels recounted.

“There are no thousands of people being slaughtered on the streets of Havana anywhere. And yet America can have relationships with everybody, but not Cuba,” said Dr. Daniels.

Delegates visited the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital, where doctors described gut-wrenching decisions about which patients would receive dialysis or life-saving surgery due to shortages of medicine, equipment, and electricity caused by the blockade.

“One of the doctors spoke up. He was being strong, but his voice cracked and he began to cry,” Dr. Daniels said. “He was not crying for himself. He was crying because he could not do what he loved to do most, serve his patients.”

Dr. Julianne Malveaux, economist and president emerita of Bennett College, said the suffering was visible in small but devastating details. She met a woman who had money to buy a chicken but was afraid to purchase it because she didn’t know how long her electricity would last to cook or preserve it.

“Her survival method is that if she buys a chicken, she shares it with her neighbors, hoping they will share with her,” Dr. Malveaux said. “The people are lifting each other. But I don’t know how many times I almost cried.”

She also described meeting a young boy who attended school only on Tuesdays. “The teachers are not in the classrooms every day. They can’t get there. If children don’t go to school every day, you are basically setting them up for generational failure.”

A legacy of solidarity

The communique issued by the delegation begins with a salute to actor-activist Danny Glover and cultural strategist James Early, whom Harry Belafonte called “the Paul Robeson of our era.”

Dr. Daniels noted that Early, who has visited Cuba for nearly half a century, observed homeless people and beggars on the streets for the first time, including children and pregnant mothers pleading with tourists for a dollar to buy food.

One striking encounter was with an Afro-Cuban “Trump supporter” who recalled that life was better after President Obama normalized relations with Cuba. “Tourists came in large numbers. The injection of dollars created opportunities,” the man told delegates. With the repeal of the Obama accords and the reimposition of the fuel embargo, he said life had become “virtually unbearable.”

“He was not so much a Trump supporter as a desperate human being who wanted Trump to invade, oust the government and end the embargo,” Dr. Daniels said. “He was hungry. He was hurting.”

Next steps: Humanitarian aid and political action

The delegation announced a two-track action agenda.

For humanitarian assistance, IBW will channel aid through Pastors for Peace, in partnership with the Martin Luther King Center in Cuba, honoring the legacy of Rev. Lucius Walker.

The organization will also:

• Encourage adoption of neighborhood community centers like the Karibuni Community Center
• Promote cultural-historical tourism focused on Afro-Cuban contributions
• Organize an African American women’s delegation for dialogue with Afro-Cuban women, led by Dr. Malveaux
• Facilitate board meetings of civil rights and professional organizations in Cuba

On political education and engagement, the agenda includes:

• A major forum on Cuba at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Legislative Conference, the first of its kind, according to Dr. Daniels
• Delegations of Black mayors, state legislators, and legal experts to exchange with Cuban counterparts
• Bringing Cuban officials, including the head of Cuba’s Commission on Racism, to the U.S. for dialogue
• A sustained civic engagement strategy to “break the hold of the Cuban community in Florida and its allies that have held U.S. policy hostage for 77 years.”

Dr. Daniels was blunt about the political calculus and said that ending the blockade is part of the Black agenda.

Dr. E. Faye Williams of the World Congress of Mayors, who has traveled to conflict zones including Iraq, Libya, and Haiti, said she had never been treated with such openness as in Cuba.

“The people of Cuba did not lie to us. They did not keep us from seeing anything we wanted to see,” she said. “We met two young women from California and New York studying at the Latin American School of Medicine. Some of our people are alive today because of the work they have done and are doing there.”

Rep. Jackson closed his comments with a call to action rooted in ancestral legacy. “On behalf of my family, I say thank you for having worked with my father over all these many years. He is now with the ancestors, sitting high, looking low, proud to know that you are continuing the work. The mantle was passed, and you’re carrying it forward.”

Dr. Daniels echoed Rev. Jesse Jackson’s famous refrain: “Hopeless people never wage revolution or reform struggle. Even if people are suffering, if they can see a promise for tomorrow, we have an obligation to keep hope alive. Every time we go, when people see us and things are happening, somebody is fighting for us. Somebody is trying to change our conditions.”

The full communique and action agenda are available at IBW21.ORG.

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Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment at Miami’s Freedom Tower, a historic site associated with Cuban migration to the United States.

Federal prosecutors allege that Raúl Castro, who served as head of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces at the time, ordered the destruction of the aircraft.

The indictment includes charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder. The legal action comes more than 30 years after the Feb. 24, 1996, incident.

Raúl Castro is the younger brother of freedom fighter and revolutionary, Comandante Fidel Castro, whom the U.S. targeted for decades.

The charges against the younger Castro may be largely symbolic unless Cuba agrees to extradite him, which remains highly unlikely. Cuba has historically refused U.S. extradition requests involving political matters.

However, in 2020, former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was charged with drug offenses, an accusation Mr. Maduro denied. However, in January of this year, U.S. forces kidnapped and captured Mr. Maduro and his wife and transported them to New York for trial.

Delcy Rodríguez is now serving as the Acting President of Venezuela. During the military operation, a reported 32 Cubans, primarily members of Cuba’s armed forces and intelligence agencies, were killed. Venezuela and Cuba have been longtime allies.

The indictment of Raúl Castro quickly drew sharp criticism from Havana, which denounced the move as “an infamous act of political provocation” and rejected U.S. jurisdiction over Cuban officials.

In a statement posted on X by the Cuban Embassy in Washington, the Cuban government defended the 1996 action as “an act of legitimate self-defense.”  Cuban officials argued that the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft repeatedly violated Cuban airspace despite repeated diplomatic protests lodged with the U.S. between 1994 and 1996.

“The inaction of the U.S. government in the face of the warnings issued by Cuba at the time revealed its complicity,” the statement said.

The indictment has also sparked criticism inside the United States. Rep. Gregory Meeks, ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while expressing criticism of Mr. Castro, warned that the indictment appeared “less like a pursuit of justice and more like a pretext for escalation.”

Rep. Meeks criticized the Trump administration’s tightening of sanctions and pressure campaign against Cuba, arguing that additional punitive measures would worsen humanitarian suffering on the island rather than produce democratic reforms.

The indictment has also reopened debate about Washington’s historical relationship with anti-Castro militant groups. A commentary published by Belly of the Beast Cuba argued that the U.S. has long applied a “double standard” regarding terrorism connected to Cuba.

The article referenced anti-Castro exile figures linked to violent attacks against Cuba, including the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 that killed 73 people.

International reaction to the recent indictment expanded on May 21 when China publicly condemned Washington’s actions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun accused the U.S. of “abusing judicial means”

And using sanctions and legal pressure as tools against Cuba. Beijing called on Washington to end what it described as coercive policies and threats toward the island nation.  

China’s criticism comes amid growing global opposition to the Trump administration’s intensified sanctions regime against Cuba. Earlier this month, Beijing described expanded U.S. sanctions as “illegal” and said the measures violated international norms and Cuba’s right to development.  

Russia also expressed support for Havana following the indictment. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Washington of “gross interference” in Cuba’s internal affairs and pledged continued support for the Cuban people amid mounting U.S. pressure.  

The case referenced in the indictment revives one of the most contentious episodes in modern U.S.-Cuba relations. Brothers to the Rescue, founded by Cuban exiles in Miami, initially conducted search-and-rescue missions for migrants at sea but later carried out provocative flights over Havana, including leaflet drops critical of the Cuban government.

On Feb. 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two Cessna aircraft operated by the group. Cuba maintained the planes had violated its airspace, while the U.S. said the aircraft were in international airspace when they were destroyed.

Asked whether the United States expected Castro to face trial in a U.S. courtroom, A.G. Blanche declined to discuss possible extradition strategies but insisted the case was not merely symbolic.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla condemned the charges as “illegitimate and illegal,” while repeating Cuba’s longstanding characterization of Brothers to the Rescue as a hostile organization engaged in actions against Cuban sovereignty.

The same day the indictment was announced, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, posted a message in Spanish on X criticizing Cuba’s leadership and blaming the country’s economic hardships on government corruption and mismanagement rather than U.S. sanctions, which have been widely condemned as unjust.

Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, responded on social media, accusing U.S. officials of deliberately misleading the public about the impact of decades-long U.S. economic pressure on Cuba.

The U.S. has targeted and worked to dismantle the Cuban government and the spirit of the revolution started by Fidel Castro for decades. The U.S. government—through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—made numerous attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro over the years.

Cuba closed its official response by reaffirming support for Mr. Castro, stating: “The Cuban people reaffirm their unrestricted and unwavering support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz.”

Final Call staff contributed to this report.

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Cuba’s government condemned the new sanctions as an act of genocide, and its foreign minister warned that it could put the U.S. on a path toward a violent conflict.

Secretary Rubio’s announcement followed the State Department’s decision to send staff to U.S. Southern Command in Miami, preparing for possible conflict with Cuba. This move added military backing to the foreign minister’s warning about a dangerous path.

He said the new sanctions target two Cuban business groups and a top executive, as part of the Trump administration’s push for regime change. The targets include GAESA, a military-run company that controls much of Cuba’s economy; its leader, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera; and Moa Nickel S.A., which runs the metals and mining sector. 

The sanctions were imposed under Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump on May 1. They target people and groups that support Cuba’s government and security forces. Secretary warned that more sanctions were likely.

These unjust and crippling sanctions have a wide impact. U.S. citizens, businesses, and banks are now banned from doing business with GAESA. Foreign companies or individuals who work with GAESA could also face penalties, such as losing access to the U.S. financial system.

In a recent interview with ABC News in Havana, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla delivered Havana’s sharpest warning yet.

Mr. Rodríguez warned that the U.S. is on a “dangerous path” that could lead to a “bloodbath in Cuba,” and said he takes President Trump’s threats “very seriously,” adding that Cuba will “exercise its right for its legitimate defense” if attacked militarily.

Mr. Rodríguez was direct about negotiations. He said there has been “no progress” in talks with the U.S., and that Cuba’s political system or internal matters are “not on the table.” He also said using accusations against Cuba to justify military action is “forbidden by international law.”

Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the May 1, 2026, Executive Order, calling it a measure that “intensifies, to extreme and unprecedented levels, the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba.”

The Ministry described the Treasury Department’s actions as “a ruthless act of economic aggression” that could lead to penalties for foreign companies and banks worldwide, even if they have no ties to U.S.-Cuba trade.

Mr. Rodríguez called the U.S. action “a collective punishment of a genocidal nature that condemns the entire nation and uses it as a hostage for purposes of domination.”

Washington’s press releases on its sanctions fail to show the harsh daily life of Cuba’s nearly 11 million people, who are already struggling under the weight of U.S. sanctions. In March 2026, the island’s power grid failed, leaving almost everyone without electricity for more than a day.

The country faces a growing humanitarian crisis, with limited access to food, water, and medicine. The average state salary is less than $13 a month. A carton of 30 eggs costs over 3,000 pesos, which is about a week’s pay. Medicines are in short supply at state pharmacies, forcing people to buy them on the black market.

Meanwhile, the suffering people face is very real.

Maria Elena Rodríguez, a retired teacher from Pinar del Río in western Cuba, told The New Humanitarian by phone that she has never faced such hardship. “Nothing compares to what we are living today,” she said.

She is now used to skipping at least one meal per day: “Sometimes I just don’t want to cook with coal. I am an asthmatic, and the smoke is very bad for me. Sometimes, I don’t have anything to eat, and the scarce food I find gets rotten after several hours without refrigeration.”

For many Cubans, leaving the country seems like the only option. Between 2021 and 2025, more than one million people left the island, and some say the real number is even higher. Many families now rely on money sent by relatives and friends abroad to buy food and medicine and to support small informal businesses.

Since January 2026, the U.S. has put in place more than 240 sanctions and stopped at least seven tankers, cutting Cuba’s energy imports by 80 to 90%. The effects were felt right away.

The Canadian mining company Sherritt International suspended all operations in Cuba following the new sanctions, leaving the island without its largest mining partner and 10 to 15% of its electricity supply.

A United Nations Special Rapporteur who recently visited Cuba urged the U.S. to lift its sanctions. The rapporteur noted that this is “the longest-running unilateral sanctions policy in U.S. foreign relations” and said it has hurt Cuban society, even though most countries oppose it.

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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canelwalked through the crowd early in the morning. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, posted a video of Cubans dancing on social networks and wrote, “The Cuban people respond to today’s new U.S. Executive Order, #May1st, which contains new unilateral coercive measures. We will not be intimidated,” he wrote, adding the hashtag #DefendTheHomeland alongside his message.

Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez, president of the Organizing Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC), addressed the crowd, bringing out the Cuban people’s steadfastness in the face of external aggression. “Our enemies have tried and tested everything. They expected to see us discouraged, defeated, and here we are, committed and firm, with our feet in the stirrup and fighting,” he said.

The trade union leader described the massive gathering of more than half a million people as “Fidel’s May Day in the year of his centennial.”

The festivities were a powerful show of resistance, but for many on the island, the daily reality is one of deepening crises.

A Havana resident who has followed Cuban politics for decades, was unable to attend this year’s march due to ongoing health challenges. Speaking to The Final Call from her home, she described a population under immense strain.

“There were many people protesting against Trump’s new laws against Cuba,” she said. “But we are really struggling with blackouts, no running water, and high prices of food and medicines even in the black market.”

Her words paint a picture far removed from the celebratory scenes. The new U.S. measures, which include an oil blockade and sanctions that have intercepted at least seven tankers since January, have worsened an already severe energy crisis. Power outages now last up to 24 hours a day in more than half the country, according to Cuba Headlines.

The Cuban government relocated the main May Day rally from Revolution Square to the site facing the U.S. Embassy, citing “austerity” and the “energy blockade” as reasons. Nearly 95-year-old former president Raúl Castro presided over the event, during which organizers presented petitions bearing over 6.2 million signatures in support of the homeland.

The gathering also united more than 827 supporters of Cuba from 38 nations, 152 global trade unions and solidarity groups, labor heroes, founders of the Cuban Workers’ Federation, and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the nation. Simultaneously, thousands of Cubans participated in marches throughout the country, adding to the nationwide mobilization.

The remarks by the Havana resident interviewed by The Final Call, reinforced the complexity of the moment. While she noted the widespread anger at U.S. policy, she did not shy away from describing the collapse of basic services. The Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions on Cuba since January, presenting them as part of a campaign to force political and economic change.

For the Cuban government, May Day was a chance to project unity and resistance. But for residents like the woman interviewed by The Fial Call, the blockade and the government’s own economic struggles have produced a humanitarian squeeze.

“We support the revolution,” she said, “but the people are tired. We need light. We need water. We need medicine.”

As the drums faded along the Malecón and the crowds dispersed, the contrast between the rally’s defiant energy and the calm despair in Havana’s homes could not have been starker. The Trump administration shows no sign of relenting, and Cuba’s leaders show no sign of bending. In between are millions of people, navigating blackouts and empty shelves, waiting for relief that has not come.

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For many in the United States and around the world, already reeling from the financial toll of war, those numbers mean something specific. Here is what $25 billion could have achieved instead.

1. Feed the hungry for one year, with room left over to save them from future famine:

It takes about $16.9 billion dollars to feed the 123 million most vulnerable people, according to the UN World Food Program and $25 billion would feed the world’s hungry for a whole year, leaving around $8 billion dollars to build up their reserves against future famine.

2. Pay off student debt for over 630,000 graduates:

Today’s average U.S. federal student loan debt sits at around $39,633. This means $25 billion dollars would cover student debt for more than 630,000 debtors, many of them Black, Latino and other non-Whites whose earning potential is held back by their loans.

3. Fill out endowments of every HBCU almost 10 times over:

According to the College Transparency Act, the total amount of money in the endowment funds of every Historically Black College and University in America amounts to around $2.6 billion and $25 billion would fund HBCUs’ endowments almost 10 times over.

4. Provide access to safe water to almost 500 million people:

The annual cost of ensuring universal access to clean drinking water is estimated at $114 billion. Two months’ worth of that funding would enable almost 500 million people to gain access to safe drinking water and protection from water-related diseases.

5. Hire almost 400,000 teachers for a year:

The median salary of teachers in U.S. public schools stands at approximately $65,000 per year and $25 billion would hire almost 400,000 of those teachers, reducing class sizes and expanding educational resources for millions of students.

6. Build over 60,000 American homes:

Twenty-five billion dollars ($25 billion) is currently enough to build or renovate 60,000 homes, based on the median housing price in the U.S. This could mean that the affordable housing crises in Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans could become a thing of the past.

While the Pentagon calls $25 billion dollars the cost of war, the poor and marginalized in the U.S. could call it something else: the price and expense of their hunger, homelessness, and their children’s future.

—Nisa Islam Muhammad, Staff Writer

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New reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) confirm that the war has not only claimed the lives of thousands but is now strangling the global growth that many nations were counting on for survival.

According to the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, the global growth forecast has been slashed to a mere 3.1%—a figure corroborated by concurrent reporting from the New York Times. While these numbers may seem abstract to some, they represent a tangible loss of opportunity, jobs, and stability for billions.

“Absent the war, global growth would have been revised upward,” the IMF stated. Instead, the world is facing what economists call a “severe scenario” in which damage to energy infrastructure could cut global growth to a staggering two percent, plunging entire regions into a deep recession.

There are concerns that the impact on emerging and developing economies will be twice as severe as that on advanced nations. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where nations were already struggling with debt, growth forecasts have been cut to 4.3%, leaving little room to fund healthcare, education, or infrastructure.

At the center of this economic storm is what some critics call a strategy of starvation, taking hold following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. At Final Call presstime, Brent crude oil prices were surging past $114 a barrel, driving the cost of living to a crushing new burden.

The CAP report, “The Human and Environmental Costs of the War in Iran,” released in early April, highlights how the U.S. blockade and the attacks have turned energy into a weapon.

This energy shock is the primary driver of a “global hunger and health crisis,” pushing an additional 45 million people into acute hunger. The skyrocketing cost of fuel has made it impossible for farmers in the Global South to afford fertilizer, much of which is trapped behind the naval blockades in the Gulf.

While the architects of war in Washington continue to fund the destruction with billions in unbudgeted spending, the American people are continuing to pay the “war tax” at every turn. Gas prices have surged past $4.00 a gallon, and inflation is projected to average 3.2%  this year, a sharp increase from previous forecasts.

The New York Times analysis uncovers a profound irony: although the U.S. economy remains the “strongest of any large, advanced economy,” its growth is being undermined by the very conflict it initiated.

Domestic protests have erupted in hundreds of cities as the public grapples with the reality that, according to the CAP report, the $3.7 billion spent in the first 100 hours of the war could have been allocated to rebuilding deteriorating American cities, providing healthcare, or eliminating student debt.

Now the full price tag is coming into focus. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on April 29, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III confirmed that the war has cost an estimated $25 billion to date—the first official government figure on the war’s total cost. “Most of that is ammunitions,” Mr. Hurst told lawmakers.

The disclosure came only after weeks of sustained Democratic pressure, drawing a pointed reply from Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the committee: “I’m glad you answered that question, because we’ve been asking for a hell of a long time, and no one’s given us the number.”

Mr. Hurst indicated that a formal supplemental budget request will be submitted to Congress once a full cost assessment is complete. The American Enterprise Institute has estimated the total cost of the conflict at between $25 billion and $35 billion.

With inquiries into accountability taking place in Washington, it is Blacks and Browns around the world—whether in Sub-Saharan Africa or the Gulf South—who carry the brunt of the greatest burden of a war that was never sanctioned by them and whose benefits they can never hope to reap.

The cost-benefit analysis of the war is not measured in terms of energy futures and military expenditure, but rather on the grim futures of the 45 million who have been thrown into poverty and the two million children who now face starvation.

—Nisa Islam Muhammad, Staff Writer

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A recent analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and fiscal experts warns that working-class households are now locked into a cycle of crippling debt, inflation, and systemic financial pain that may last for decades.

The total price tag for President Donald Trump’s Iran war is projected to reach $1 trillion. However, for families already struggling to buy food, pay for gas, and cover rent, the real cost is measured in hunger pains, rising fuel costs and the dream of homeownership becoming more elusive.

According to CAP’s analysis, “Trump’s War May Be Over, But the Economic Damage is Not,” the disruption of global energy markets has pushed gas prices above $4 per gallon nationally. In March alone, American households spent an estimated $8.4 billion more on gasoline compared to pre-war levels.

For Black and Latino families, who are disproportionately represented among essential workers and long-distance commuters due to a lack of affordable housing near job centers, this spike acts as a regressive tax. The report highlights that the lowest-income families spend more than 30% of their income on transportation.

“When fuel costs explode, we feel it immediately,” a D.C. community organizer told The Final Call, who requested anonymity for safety. “Brothers and sisters are already choosing between fixing the car to get to work or putting dinner on the table.”

“Is this what people voted for with Trump? … What you see is not what you were going to get. It’s so tragic that people actually voted for him. Black men, Latinos, and others. Look what we have.

A president who threatens to destroy a whole civilization. Is that what America is all about? Maybe, look at history. It’s a sad day, and the American people are paying the price.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the March Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.3% year-over-year, a sharp increase from 2.4% in February.

This report is the first full reading covering the period since the war with Iran began on February 28. Economists noted that the 21.2% spike in gasoline prices was directly responsible for nearly three-quarters of the total monthly increase in inflation.

While a ceasefire was announced shortly before this data was released, analysts warn that these higher transportation and fuel costs will continue to trickle down to food and consumer goods in the coming months. Consequently, the unsteady truce in Iran has not stopped the bleeding in America’s inner cities and rural farmlands.

“The bombs may have stopped falling on Tehran,” the D.C. organizer added, “but the bill just arrived in our mailboxes.”

The housing crunch gets tighter

The war is also slamming the door on many homeownership dreams. Rising inflation expectations, driven by the energy shock, have pushed mortgage rates higher. CAP estimates this will cost homebuyers tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.

For Black and Latino families, who have historically been steered into higher-cost mortgages and denied wealth-building opportunities through redlining, this new barrier makes an already impossible goal even more elusive. Simultaneously, renters face pressure as landlords passes on higher utility and construction costs.

The hidden mathematics of conflict

Beyond the gas pump, the fiscal mathematics of the Middle East conflict reveal a potential path to national bankruptcy. Experts at Harvard Kennedy School note that during 40 days of active hostilities, the war cost taxpayers roughly $2 billion per day.

Even more alarming is the economic asymmetry: The United States is firing interceptor missiles that cost roughly $4 million each to shoot down Iranian drones that cost as little as $30,000 to manufacture.

The White House has already requested that Congress raise the defense budget to $1.5 trillion, the largest military expansion since World War II, including a $200 billion special reserve for the war in Iran. Even if Congress rejects the full increase, experts agree the baseline defense budget will rise by at least $100 billion annually.

Supply chain pain and farming stress

The war’s disruption of global shipping routes has congested 60% to 70% of major ports, leading to shortages of everyday goods. Meanwhile, U.S. farmers, including many Black farmers who have fought to hold onto their land amid generations of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) discrimination, are facing fertilizer and diesel prices roughly 50% above pre-war levels.

Global impact of the war

However, the war’s devastation is global. In South Africa, fuel price jumps have triggered cascading increases for food and electricity. Women, who shoulder the majority of unpaid care work, are being hit first and hardest.

Three-quarters of the people living in Qatar and the UAE are migrant workers from large developing countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. Yale researchers found that the majority of people killed in the Gulf countries are collateral damage, migrant workers.

If the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies remain blockaded and suffer economic hardship, this will have significant spillover effects on South and Southeast Asian economies, which won’t receive the typical remittances migrant workers send home.

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Amid a political moment defined by federal assaults on Black institutions, voting rights, and municipal governance, the two-day gathering carried the weight of resistance and the urgency of purpose.

AAMA Executive Director Phyllis Dickerson set the tone at the opening press conference.

“Over the next two days, Black mayors from across the U.S.—the largest gathering of its kind—will engage on policies, innovations, and opportunities shaping our cities,”

Ms. Dickerson declared. The agenda during the conference, which was held April 9-10, covered housing and community development, transportation infrastructure, migration and public safety, and reproductive and maternal health, closing with a Legacy Awards reception honoring exceptional public servants.

‘Struggle Is in Our DNA’

AAMA President in Savannah, Georgia, Mayor Van Johnson set a defiant tone, citing the association’s yearlong campaign to counter federal misinformation about Black-led cities.

“In over 50 stories across TV, print, and radio, AAMA mayors were front and center in the national conversation, setting the record straight and telling it like it is,” Mayor Johnson said. 

Mayor Johnson also sounded the alarm on elections, calling the upcoming midterms “probably the most important midterm election ever.” His message was unequivocal: “Election security is not a partisan issue. It is a governance issue.

It is about trust—trust that every eligible voter can cast a ballot, that every ballot will be counted, and that every election reflects the voice and the will of the people, independent of any interference.” He closed by handing the mic to incoming AAMA president, Mayor Brandon Scott, the mayor of Baltimore, Maryland.

Black mayors leading the way

Mayor Scott drew laughter, declaring Baltimore “the greatest city in America” before turning serious. He cataloged the pressures: federal funding cuts, economic turmoil, gas at $5 a gallon, and “targeted attacks on Black leaders, Black culture, Black organizations, Black institutions across this country.”

Against that backdrop, he offered data the federal narrative has suppressed: “Whether it’s in Birmingham, whether it’s in Oakland—where violent crime dropped 25% last year—whether it’s in Chicago where they fell by 54% last year.

Or just a few minutes up the road in Baltimore, where we had the lowest amount of homicides ever recorded, a 50-year low. Black mayors are leading the way.”

Mayor Scott framed his fellow mayors in unsparing terms: “These leaders are fighting the fights that many people are not prepared to fight, the fights that many people are afraid to fight—and fighting the fights that are necessary for their constituents to make it to where we all want to go. A better tomorrow. But a better tomorrow starts with the work that you put in today.”

‘Housing Is the Foundation’

Mayor Sonia A. Brown of Glenn Heights, Texas, anchored the conference’s housing agenda in moral terms. “Housing is not a side issue. It is the very foundation of our communities—the foundation of public safety, economic growth, strong schools, and healthy families,” she said.

“When a child knows where they will sleep at night, they perform differently. When a senior can afford to age in place, they can live with dignity.” Mayor Brown noted that four generations now share the same workspace—an unprecedented reality that makes affordable housing not merely desirable but essential.

Her call to action was direct: “Across this country, Black mayors are not waiting. We are now leading. We are rethinking rezoning, investing in affordable housing, addressing homelessness with dignity, and partnering with the private sector to build mixed-income communities that bring people together instead of separating them by zip code.”

She closed with a charge: “At the end of the day, it’s about people. It’s about stability, it’s about dignity, and it’s about making sure every family in every city has a place to call home.”

Abrams, Kaepernick, and the mandate of local power

The convention’s opening day’s fireside chat featured Stacey Abrams—former Georgia state representative, voting rights advocate and the first Black woman to become a major-party gubernatorial nominee—who energized the assembled mayors at a moment when democratic infrastructure faces sustained federal pressure.

Mayor Marcus Muhammad of Benton Harbor, Michigan, told The Final Call, “Listening to Stacey Abrams, she was encouraging the Black mayors. She told us, ‘Your local mayor is so important in a time like this. All politics start local. And it helps if that local mayor is Black.’”

The marquee moment of the last day came when former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick took the stage. The founder of Know Your Rights Camp, Mr. Kaepernick, brought a message of principled resistance that resonated with leaders who navigate the same system his kneeling protest once challenged.

Mayor Muhammad drew the connection plainly, “A lot of times, we have to take uncomfortable stances. We’re in one of those moments where we may have to take a knee—take a stand for what is right, even if it means standing up.”

Mayor Van Johnson offered the gathering’s defining word as it closed: “We’re here for business. We’re here to work, to strategize, to lift each other up, and bring those strategies back home. Struggle is in our DNA. We will serve in extraordinary ways, and we will continue to be the hopes and dreams that our ancestors thought of.”

The African American Mayors Association is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to empowering Black mayors. For more information, visit aama.us.

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The demonstrations, organized under the banner “No Kings,” took place across all 50 states and cities in at least 16 countries, according to organizers, reflecting increased opposition to the Trump administration’s policies on Iran, the economy, and immigration enforcement. It was the third mass protest under that theme since President Trump was reelected.

From the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol to small-town rallies in places like York, Pennsylvania, the message echoed through chants and placards: in a democracy, power belongs to the people.

The protests were organized by a coalition of grassroots networks, including Indivisible, the activist group 50501, labor organizations, and a range of local civic groups.

Organizers estimate that between seven and eight million people participated in more than 3,300 demonstrations nationwide. While those figures are difficult to independently verify, they suggest a mobilization on a scale rarely seen in recent American political life.

By comparison, the 2017 Women’s March drew an estimated three to five million participants nationwide and took place to protest Trump administration policies in his first term. The protests following the Minneapolis Police killing of George Floyd in 2020 were larger overall, involving an estimated 15 to 26 million Americans over several weeks.

The scale of the “No Kings” demonstrations reflects a moment of profound political frustration. Rising grocery prices, fuel costs, and fears about international conflict were often cited by participants as reasons for joining the protests.

On the movement’s website, organizers described their concerns bluntly, accusing the current presidential administration of undermining civil liberties, escalating international conflict, and worsening economic insecurity for working families.

A new wave of protesters

In Knoxville, Tennessee, protester Hannah Maples told local reporters she joined the rally because she felt the country was moving in a dangerous direction. “We’re fighting for what we think America should be,” she told local Knoxville station, WATE 6 On Your Side, “because America doesn’t feel very great right now.”

In York, Pennsylvania, another protester, Colbey Miskech, said immigration raids and concerns about government transparency pushed him to take part. “There’s a lot more change that needs to go on around here,” he told the York Daily Record. “Not just this local area but the United States in general.”

Local coverage across several states suggested that many participants were first-time protesters. Some journalists also observed that large numbers of demonstrators appeared to be middle-aged or older Americans—people who may not have previously seen themselves as part of protest movements.

A letter to the editor published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel described the crowd at a local rally as largely composed of people in their 50s and 60s and lamented the limited presence of younger participants.

If those observations hold true more broadly, they may signal an important shift. Unlike the youth-led, multiracial protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, many “No Kings” demonstrations appeared to draw significant participation from suburban and small-town communities. Rallies took place in locations as varied as Driggs, Idaho, and Kotzebue, Alaska, reflecting economic anxieties that cut across geographic and political divides.

Whose dissatisfaction?

Because comprehensive demographic data has not yet been compiled, the social composition of the protests remains difficult to measure. Observations about the crowds largely rely on local reporting and anecdotal accounts. Nevertheless, the demonstrations raise important questions about how different communities experience political unrest in the United States.

“I’m totally dissatisfied,” Elizabeth Harrison told The Final Call. She is a retired White, school administrator and was protesting in Philadelphia with her friends. “This is our first protest, but it won’t be our last. We are fed up with the man we voted for. He duped so many of us into thinking he was going to be better than President [Joe] Biden. I can’t believe I fell for his nonsense.”

“Everything costs more, Americans are getting killed by ICE, and now we are at war. This is not what he promised the voters. He’s a liar and a cheat. He’s not making America great again. He’s ruining America,” she added.

Political scientists and journalists covering the protests note that many visible participants appear to come from demographics that historically have not been the primary drivers of mass protest movements—particularly older suburban voters and politically independent Americans who may previously have remained outside activist politics.

However, that framing risks hiding who has long borne the brunt of these grievances. For many Black Americans, issues like economic inequality, voting rights, policing, and structural injustice have been at the heart of political activism for generations. Historians on civil rights point out that movements for racial justice often serve as early warning signals of broader democratic crises.

From that perspective, the frustrations now voiced in many town squares mirror concerns long voiced in Black communities, where fights for full democratic participation have shaped political life since the country’s founding. The question, then, is not just who is protesting today, but how these protests connect with the longer history of American dissent.

Media and the ‘protest paradigm’

The scale of the “No Kings” demonstrations has also revived an enduring debate over how the media covers mass protests. Communication scholars have long argued that mainstream news coverage often follows what sociologist Todd Gitlin called the “protest paradigm”—a pattern in which demonstrations are mainly depicted in terms of conflict, disruption.

Or political strategy rather than the real grievances that motivate participants. Researchers have documented similar patterns in media coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war protests during the Vietnam era, and more recent demonstrations around racial justice.

Some media critics say elements of that pattern may be visible again today. While many news organizations reported extensively on the “No Kings” rallies, debate has emerged over whether coverage fully reflected the scale and significance of the mobilization.

Timothy Karr of the media advocacy organization Free Press noted that the much smaller Tea Party protests of 2009 and 2010 received extensive national coverage despite drawing far fewer participants. Whether these comparisons are accurate is still debated, but they highlight the ongoing tension between large protest movements and the institutions that explain them to the public.

A moment of uncertainty

For organizers, the demonstrations are intended as a starting point rather than an endpoint.

Coalition leaders say the movement will shift toward voter registration efforts, community organizing, and electoral engagement ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Their goal is to turn protest energy into lasting political participation.

Large protest movements have sometimes reshaped American politics—from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s to the anti-war protests that many historians credit with accelerating the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Other mass mobilizations have faded once the immediate crisis subsided.

The “No Kings” protests could be a turning point or just a temporary burst of frustration in a highly divided political climate. For now, they show a country confronting deep worries about economic security and the future of America.

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