Hotels have shuttered. Mining operations have ground to a halt. Airlines have canceled flights.
Now, the Trump administration’s escalating economic war on Cuba has claimed another casualty: the only U.S. study abroad program with a permanent physical presence on the island.
After 11 years of bringing hundreds of U.S. students to live and study in Havana, the Consortium for Advanced Studies Abroad (CASA) is shutting down its Cuba program amid a growing humanitarian crisis and fears of a U.S. military intervention.
This week, Belly of the Beast journalist Blake Burdge speaks with former CASA students about how studying in Cuba transformed their understanding of the island and why the program's closure is a loss for both countries.
Also:
Feeding Cuba’s Elderly Under U.S. Blockade
U.S. Targets Cuban Bank Under Iran Allegations
Rubio Presses Bukele to Isolate Cuba at UN
Democrats Challenge Blockade Before Midterms
Cuba Open to U.S. Nickel Investors
U.S. Hostility Ends Study Abroad Program In Cuba
Blake Burdge
The only U.S. study abroad program with a physical presence in Cuba is shutting down after 11 years.
The Consortium for Advanced Studies Abroad (CASA), which brought hundreds of U.S. students to live and study in Cuba, has closed due to “the uncertainty in the U.S.-Cuban geopolitical landscape,” according to a notice on its website. The decision comes amid threats of U.S. military action, an escalation of sanctions and an oil blockade that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warns is putting Cuban lives at risk.
CASA students visit Finca Marta, an organic farm outside Havana, during the spring 2026 semester. Photo: Desmond Silverman-Joseph.
Created during President Barack Obama’s opening with the island, CASA aimed to bring students from both countries closer together.
"After 55 years of significant isolation from Cuba, there has never been a more opportune moment for U.S. institutions to engage their students with Cuba's leading academic talent," Kendall Brostuen, then director of Brown's Office of International Programs and chair of CASA's board, wrote in 2015.
CASA welcomed its first class of 29 students that year. In the following years, students from U.S. universities, including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and Vanderbilt, traveled to Havana through the program. They attended class at the University of Havana and Casa de las Américas, a Cuban cultural and research institution specializing in Latin American and Caribbean studies. Students took courses in Spanish, participated in research projects and immersed themselves in Cuban society.
Casa de las Américas, a cultural institution in Havana that hosted the CASA program.
Studying with CASA also exposed U.S. students to Havana’s international academic community.
"You get brought into this small island, but you're connected to people from all around the world who you wouldn't have connections with otherwise," said Justin Jiménez, an Oberlin College graduate who studied in Cuba with CASA in 2017. "There are students from Africa studying medicine, students from Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Jiménez arrived in Havana the day after Donald Trump’s first inauguration, which marked the end of the Obama-era rapprochement between the United States and Cuba.
Trump quickly abandoned Obama’s normalization efforts and revived a Cold War approach, tightening the longstanding embargo and restricting U.S. travel to the island. Biden largely maintained Trump’s hard-line policy.
Despite the renewed U.S. hostility and deteriorating conditions on the island, CASA managed to keep bringing students to Havana.
Trump’s return to office in 2025 ushered in an unprecedented escalation of economic warfare on Cuba, marked by “maximum pressure” sanctions imposed on a near-weekly basis and an oil blockade that has plunged the country into darkness for upwards of 20 hours a day.
The administration has also taken aim at U.S. citizens. On September 30, the Treasury Department eliminated group people-to-people travel, which had allowed organized educational trips from the United States. Accredited U.S. universities can still send students to Cuba for certain academic programs and research. But increased U.S. aggression toward the island has had a chilling effect, as institutions weigh the risks of breakdowns in basic services, civil unrest or possible military conflict.
In April, CASA suspended its fall 2026 program due to “geopolitical tensions and resource stress produced by the U.S. blockade on the island,” according to The Dartmouth.
The spring cohort had already shrunk from 16 to 12 students after four withdrew amid fears of instability. Those who remained were barred from traveling outside Havana over concerns they could be stranded during an emergency. Fuel shortages also disrupted classes at the University of Havana, depriving U.S. students of the opportunity to study alongside Cubans.
“We were on guard to evacuate at any moment if the program became untenable because of the energy situation, or if there was a U.S. invasion,” said Desi Silverman-Joseph, a Brown University senior who studied in Havana this spring.
The Trump administration has not only made academic exchanges with Cuba increasingly difficult, but has also cast them as a threat to U.S. national security. In July, Marco Rubio's State Department released a 100-page McCarthyite report accusing Cuba of influencing U.S. protest movements, universities and political organizations for more than six decades. The report portrays academic and cultural engagement with Cuba as part of a broader campaign to “turn America against itself.”
That narrative is easier to sustain when U.S. students have fewer opportunities to experience Cuba firsthand and form their own impressions.
"In the United States, when you're looking at U.S.-Cuba relations, you're getting a very one-sided view on the situation," said Camila Sánchez, a Dartmouth senior who studied with CASA this spring. "Being able to go to Cuba and be surrounded by Cuban professors, by Cuban students, and learn from them and their perspectives—that's so, so, so valuable. You can then take both perspectives and come to your own conclusions about things."
Former students interviewed by Belly of the Beast described CASA as an experience that reshaped their understanding of Cuba and the possibilities for relations between the two countries.
"I was shaken and saddened when I heard about the program's closure," said Ben Stevenson, a Dartmouth student who studied with CASA last year. "We are losing the ability to build relationships with Cubans our age over music, football and philosophy.”
"These relationships could be the foundation for a new, more positive U.S.-Cuba partnership," he said. "But without these types of exchanges, that may never materialize.”
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Feeding Cuba’s Elderly Under U.S. Blockade
Cuba created the Family Assistance System (SAF) in 1998 to provide meals to older adults, people with disabilities and others in vulnerable situations. Today, roughly 70,000 Cubans depend on the program, according to Cuba’s Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN).
At El Rampeño, a SAF center in central Havana, elderly residents receive two hot meals a day.
“I'm retired and this is all I have to eat,” said Efigenio Caro, a former construction worker.
But keeping the kitchen running has become increasingly difficult as U.S. sanctions and an oil blockade have disrupted food deliveries across the island.
“We haven't had a drop of fuel in over six months,” said Pedro Garcés, president of the local People's Council, the neighborhood-level governing body that oversees El Rampeño. “We're having a very, very hard time here. But we're still here.”
El Rampeño has found a way to keep serving meals by partnering with local private businesses, which donate food and other resources to supplement limited state supplies.
“Feeding our seniors depends heavily on the solidarity of private businesses,” Garcés said.
Unlike many SAF centers struggling to meet basic needs, El Rampeño has maintained a steady supply of meals. Its approach is now being adopted by at least five other SAF centers, according to Garcés.
For the older Cubans who gather there, El Rampeño offers more than food. It's also a place to find companionship and support.
“Being able to come to a place like this is a blessing,” said Lilian Fombella, a retired telephone operator.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned Cuba’s state-owned Banco Internacional de Comercio (BICSA) today, accusing it of providing financial services to Iran's Karafarin Bank, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2020.
Rubio used the announcement to repeat his familiar, sweeping accusation that Cuba serves as a haven for foreign military, intelligence and terrorist operations targeting the U.S.—a claim for which he has provided no credible evidence. He has previously made similarly unsubstantiated allegations that Cuba hosts Chinese and Russian spy bases.
The State Department did not specify what financial services BICSA allegedly provided to its Iranian counterpart, nor offer evidence linking the Cuban bank to terrorism.
Instead, BICSA was added to a blacklist created by May 1 executive order that threatens “secondary sanctions” against foreign businesses dealing with designated Cuban entities.
The sanctions prohibit U.S. banks and other businesses from dealing with BICSA and require them to freeze any assets belonging to the Cuban bank. Foreign banks risk penalties for continuing to do business with BICSA, even if their transactions have nothing to do with Iran.
For decades, the United States has struggled to find allies at the United Nations willing to defend its economic blockade on Cuba.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spent much of the year trying to change that, lobbying foreign governments to withdraw their support for Cuba and warning those that refuse to fall in line.
During an October 13 phone call with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Rubio urged El Salvador to align with U.S. priorities at the UN, according to a State Department readout.
El Salvador has historically supported UN resolutions demanding an end to the U.S. embargo. Last year, despite Bukele’s close alliance with the Trump administration, El Salvador did not participate in the vote.
Rubio told Bukele “the Cuban regime will not make the reforms the Cuban people deserve while it believes the international community is on its side.”
In July, a leaked State Department cable obtained by The Nation revealed that Rubio had instructed U.S. diplomats to lobby governments against holding a UN debate on the humanitarian consequences of U.S. sanctions on Cuba.
Rubio told diplomats to encourage U.S. allies to criticize Cuba, urge nonaligned countries to remain silent and warn governments that traditionally opposed the embargo that “the United States will be listening very closely” to their statements.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the State Department of “pressure, blackmail and threats.”
But Rubio’s lobbying effort to prevent the UN debate failed. On July 7, the General Assembly voted 136–9, with one abstention, to proceed with the debate.
The issue will come before the General Assembly again on October 28, when it will vote on an annual resolution demanding an end to the blockade. The resolution has passed 33 times in a row, with the U.S. and Israel its only consistent opponents. In 2024, they were the only two countries to vote against it.
Last year, the Trump administration managed to bring five more countries into its corner, while 12 abstained. Still, 165 countries voted to condemn the blockade.
Democrats Challenge Blockade Before Midterms
With November’s midterm elections approaching, a growing number of Democrats are speaking out against the Trump administration’s economic war on Cuba.
“If we win the House…we are focused on legislation that would quickly be introduced to end the blockade on Cuba,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said this week. “People are hurting, they don’t have access to healthcare. It’s not a way for any country to live.”
Dingell is not alone. In recent months, dozens of congressional Democrats have challenged Trump's Cuba policy, while others have traveled to the island to witness the consequences of U.S. economic warfare firsthand.
In April, 52 Democratic lawmakers signed a letter demanding an end to the blockade. That same month, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) visited Havana, describing the consequences of U.S. policy as “cruel collective punishment.”
Four more House Democrats visited the island in July, meeting with Cuban medical workers and private business owners, calling the Trump administration’s oil blockade “evil” and “immoral.”
Meanwhile, Democrats in both chambers have introduced resolutions seeking to prevent Trump from launching military action against Cuba without congressional authorization.
In March, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) introduced a resolution aimed at blocking an unauthorized U.S. attack on the island. Senate Republicans blocked the measure in April by a 51–47 vote.
House Democrats have mounted their own challenge. Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) backed another resolution in May to terminate unauthorized U.S. military action against Cuba, citing Trump's repeated threats to take over the island and the administration's escalating oil blockade.
Last month, 45 faith, peace, labor, health and political organizations urged House Democratic leaders to bring the measure to a vote, arguing that Trump’s oil blockade already amounts to an act of war that Congress never authorized.
Cuba Open to U.S. Nickel Investors
After U.S. sanctions forced Canadian mining company Sherritt International to suspend operations at Cuba’s largest nickel mine in May, a U.S. company with close ties to Donald Trump moved to acquire a majority stake.
In an interview this week with Reuters, Cuba’s Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said his government would continue working with Sherritt under the rules of their joint venture even if U.S. investors took control of the Canadian company.
“What the U.S. company would be buying are shares in Sherritt, not in the joint venture," he said. "The Canadian company is publicly traded, and any investor has the right to buy its shares."
The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted Cuba’s mining industry, threatening foreign companies with “secondary sanctions” for doing business with the country, while the oil blockade has cut off much of the fuel needed to keep operations running.
Days after Sherritt suspended its operations in Cuba, Dallas-based Gillon Capital, whose vice chairman Ray Washburne is a longtime Trump ally and former administration official, announced a preliminary agreement to acquire a majority stake in Sherritt.
The proposed deal required U.S. government approval, which does not appear to have been granted.
Gillon's 120-day exclusivity agreement with Sherritt expired on October 12 with no final deal publicly announced. A rival consortium, including commodities giant Glencore and an unidentified U.S. investor, has also expressed interest in acquiring a majority stake in Sherritt.
Whoever takes control of Sherritt would face the same raft of U.S. sanctions that have ground Cuban nickel operations to a halt.
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