New York, 14 June 2026. - At the High-Level Event on Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition, held at United Nations Headquarters, Cuba’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to a just, inclusive, and sustainable energy transition, while denouncing the intensification of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States government as a serious obstacle to national efforts aimed at ensuring energy security and moving toward a cleaner energy mix.
The Cuban diplomat emphasized that energy transition must represent an opportunity to promote sustainable development in developing countries and not become a new source of inequality. In this regard, he advocated for the need to promote industrialization, the creation of added value, technology transfer, and the strengthening of national capacities, while avoiding the repetition of the historic resource extraction, technological dependence, and the concentration of profits.
Ambassador Soberón emphasized that respect for the sovereign right of States over their natural resources is an essential principle for ensuring a fair energy transition. He noted that it is up to each country to decide, in accordance with its national priorities and international law, how to manage and utilize its critical minerals so that they contribute to the sovereign and sustainable development of its peoples.
In that context, he denounced the fact that there can be no truly fair energy transition as long as unilateral coercive measures persist that deliberately restrict certain countries’ access to fuels, technologies, investments, financing, and equipment that are indispensable for ensuring electricity supply and advancing the transformation of their energy systems.
Cuba’s Permanent Representative explained that the country is currently facing a true energy blockade as a result of the unprecedented intensification of the U.S. embargo. He noted that this policy seeks to hinder access to fuels, prevent the acquisition of technologies for energy generation and storage, intimidate international suppliers, and even obstruct projects aimed at expanding renewable energy generation—all of which have a direct impact on the operation of hospitals, schools, water supply systems, and other essential services.
At the end of his remarks, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán reiterated Cuba’s commitment to an inclusive energy transition that leaves no country behind and reaffirmed that access to the energy, technologies, and resources necessary for sustainable development should not be subject to economic coercion or political considerations, but should be based on the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law, and international cooperation.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations