Vienna, July 14.- The Communist Youth of Austria (Kommunistische Jugend Österreichs, KJÖ) issued a statement condemning the recent presidential memorandum of the Donald Trump administration, released on June 30, 2025, which strengthens the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba. The document, a reissue of National Security Presidential Memorandum No. 5 issued in 2017, represents a new attempt to suffocate the island and undermine its sovereignty.
In its statement, the KJÖ denounced that “for more than 60 years, the United States has imposed a criminal blockade that prohibits trade relations with Cuba, aggravating difficulties in the supply of essential goods for the Cuban people.” Likewise, it qualified this policy as “an imperialist attack against socialism and the sovereignty of Cuba, which continues to be a thorn in the side of Washington's hegemonic interests”.
The communiqué rejected the U.S. government's justifications, based on “outdated myths about democracy and human rights,” and highlighted the hypocrisy of claiming that the blockade “benefits the Cuban people.” “The truth is that they seek to destroy the Cuban socialist project at any cost, even at the cost of the suffering of millions of people,” the youth organization stressed.
JÖ recalled that the blockade is “widely condemned at the international level,” with historic votes in the UN General Assembly where only the United States and Israel oppose its lifting. “This policy violates international law and is rejected not only by the Global South, but also by Western allies of Washington,” he noted.
In a call for solidarity, the Austrian Communist Youth expressed its unwavering support for Cuba: "The resistance of the Cuban people in the face of imperialism is exemplary, but the blockade must end now. We join their struggle and demand an immediate end to this inhuman measure."
The communiqué concluded with a strong message, “The blockade is intolerable! Long live socialist Cuba!”
The KJÖ is the youth organization of the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and brings together young communists united by the idea of a just world. For more than 50 years, the KJÖ has stood for the struggle against capitalism, fascism and imperialism.
(EmbaCuba Austria)