Statement by the party executive committee of the Austrian Labor Party (PdA) and the central leadership of the Youth Front, Vienna, 09.05.2026.
On May 1, 2026, while millions of people in Cuba were on the streets against the US policy of strangulation, US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on the socialist island. In addition to the already existing obstacles to Cuba's economic development caused by the decades-long blockade policy, these new measures once again worsen the living conditions of the Cuban people.
The new blockade measures are directed against the energy‑ and oil sectors, against the mining and metal industries, against the defence and security sectors and against banking. Foreign banks and companies that do business with Cuba are threatened with secondary sanctions. The oil blockade that has existed for months and many other measures, together with the newly imposed sanctions, are intended to lead Cuba to abandon its socialist social model and become a protectorate of the USA, as it was in the period before the revolution. The blockade policy is accompanied by constant threats of a military attack on Cuba
Many states on all continents condemn this renewed tightening of the US blockade policy against Cuba and some of them have even instructed their companies not to adhere to US sanctions.
The Labor Party and the Youth Front are calling on the Austrian federal government to clearly protest to the USA against the blockade measures that violate international law and to work for a complete lifting of sanctions on all possible occasions, especially within the framework of the UN and the EU. The present double standard in foreign policy of condemning human rights violations only where it corresponds to the interests of the US and EU monopolies is a violation of the required neutrality of Austrian foreign policy.
The Party of Labour and the Youth Front express their full solidarity with the people of Cuba. Likewise, we assure the Communist Party of Cuba and the Revolutionary Government of our active support in their fight against US imperialism, against its contempt for humanity and arrogance!