Vienna, July 14- The Austria-Cuba Friendship Association issued a strong statement rejecting the new National Security Memorandum (NSPM) signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on June 30, 2025, which intensifies unilateral coercive measures against Cuba.
The document, entitled “Toughening U.S. Policy Toward Cuba,” represents an aggravated reissue of the policies implemented by Trump in 2017, severely affecting the island's main sources of income: trade in goods, remittances and tourism. The ÖKG denounced that these extraterritorial measures violate international law and the UN Charter, ignoring the unanimous rejection of the global community, expressed in 30 consecutive votes in the UN General Assembly.
The communiqué stressed that the memorandum comes at a time of aggravated economic crisis for Cuba, following a historical pattern: “The blockade intensifies when the Cuban people suffer the most,” recalling the Torricelli (1992) and Helms-Burton (1996) laws during the Special Period, and Trump's 240 measures during the pandemic. The ÖKG stressed that the objective of this policy is “to inflict maximum damage to provoke destabilization”, just as the original blockade in 1962.
The ÖKG demanded in its communiqué the immediate lifting of the blockade, due to its illegal and inhumane nature; economic compensation for the damages caused in 63 years of blockade; the exclusion of Cuba from the unilateral list of “State sponsors of terrorism”; and the return of the territory occupied by the Guantanamo naval base.
The text concluded with a message of firmness: “The effects will be felt, but they will not break the Cuban people”, and reiterated its commitment to the struggle against imperialism, closing with the slogans: Long live Cuba, Long live international solidarity!
(EmbaCuba Austria)