Rep. Jayapal Reports Death Threats After Cuba Trip and Ambassador Meetings

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she has received death threats for doing her job and meeting with foreign ambassadors about Cuba’s fuel shortages and U.S. sanctions.

After her April trip to Cuba as part of a congressional delegation, conservatives labeled the progressive lawmaker a traitor conspiring against the U.S. because she met with political leaders to discuss the crisis on the island.

"I've gotten death threats as a result of this," Jayapal told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "People are calling for me to be shot, and it's just a fabrication. It is what's wrong with so much of the work that we do."

Jayapal traveled with Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill. She spoke at a Seattle briefing afterward, where her comments went viral on X.

She met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, senior government officials, political dissidents, civil society groups and foreign diplomats to discuss the island’s crisis beyond imagination. Jayapal justified the meetings as part of her duties as a member of Congress.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "First of all, I had a meeting with the ambassadors of a couple of countries to hear how U.S. policy toward Cuba was affecting those countries. We meet with ambassadors all the time. That is part of our job, to assess what's going on on the ground."

Jayapal said U.S. sanctions have not worked. She called for direct negotiations with Cuba.

"I've been very clear that the way to engage with Cuba is through a true diplomatic negotiation and that none of the embargo, that's been the longest-standing embargo for over 60 years, or the fuel blockade is helping us to achieve any of that," she said.

She is working on legislation to address negative impacts of U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba, which she called cruel collective punishment for the island’s citizens.

"I’m working on legislation to address negative impacts of U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba," she said. "I’m a member of Congress. I have every right to go travel and to meet with other ambassadors."

Her actions prompted questions about the Logan Act, which bars unauthorized individuals from negotiating with foreign governments in U.S. disputes.

The White House called Jayapal’s trip shameful and accused her of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome in a statement to Fox News Digital last week.

"The Democrats continue to show Americans who they really are, the America Last party who sip margaritas with terrorists, advocate for illegal alien criminals, and undermine the United States to aid a failed communist regime," White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said.

Cuba’s ties to Iran and Hezbollah concern national security, according to the Trump administration. The island’s economic crisis has driven migration surges to the U.S. in recent years.

Jayapal told Fox News Digital most Americans would not approve of Cuban civilians' conditions if they knew the details.

"The humanitarian crisis on the ground, with babies in the NICU being unable to get care for their incubators to work," she said. "The lack of food on the island, so many other things, is a travesty, and I actually don't think that most Americans would want that."

Jayapal has called for lifting the U.S. embargo, removing Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and supporting legislation to block potential U.S. military action. She has previously criticized the Cuban government for political repression and limits on free speech.