The Norwegian Communist Party condemns the latest escalation of sanctions imposed by the United States against Cuba. The executive order issued on 1 May 2026, followed by direct sanctions on 7 May against major Cuban economic entities, represents yet another act of imperialist aggression against the Cuban people. These measures target key sectors of Cuba’s economy, including tourism, mining, nickel and cobalt production, and foreign investment. They are designed not only to weaken the Cuban state, but to deepen hardship for the Cuban people.
This new escalation is especially dangerous because it extends the threat beyond Cuba itself. By threatening companies, financial institutions, governments, and individuals in third countries who maintain relations with Cuba, the United States is attempting to force the rest of the world to participate in its blockade. This is not diplomacy. It is coercion. It is economic warfare.
The sanctions against Cuba must be understood as part of a long history of US imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean. For more than six decades, the United States has sought to punish Cuba for choosing its own sovereign path, for defending socialism, and for refusing to submit to US domination. The blockade has never been about democracy or human rights. It has always been about strangling an independent socialist country and making its people suffer for their refusal to bow before imperial power.
The latest sanctions against Cuban companies, including those linked to tourism and nickel production, reveal the material interests behind this aggression. Cuba possesses strategic natural resources, including nickel and cobalt, which are vital for modern industry, electronics, telecommunications, and military production. The targeting of these sectors shows clearly that US policy is not only ideological, but economic and geopolitical.
We also note with concern that the Canadian company Sherritt International has suspended its direct participation in joint venture activities in Cuba following the latest US measures. This demonstrates how the sanctions regime operates internationally: not only through direct US action, but through intimidation, fear, and pressure on companies and governments outside the United States.
The Norwegian Communist Party rejects this aggression in the strongest possible terms. We call on governments, political parties, trade unions, solidarity organisations, and progressive forces internationally to oppose these sanctions and refuse to comply with US intimidation. It is not enough to express sympathy with Cuba while allowing US imperialism to dictate the terms of international relations. A broad international movement is needed to defend Cuba’s sovereignty and expose the criminal nature of the blockade.
The Cuban people have the right to determine their own future without foreign interference, economic strangulation, or military threats. No state has the right to impose collective punishment on another people because it rejects domination. The sanctions must be lifted. The blockade must end. Cuba must be allowed to trade, develop, and cooperate freely with the peoples and nations of the world.
The Norwegian Communist Party stands in full solidarity with the Cuban people, the Cuban Revolution, and all those resisting imperialism. We call for an immediate end to the US blockade and to all sanctions against Cuba. We further call on the Norwegian government and all European governments to reject US pressure and defend Cuba’s right to sovereignty, development, and self-determination.
Hands off Cuba. End the blockade. Stop US imperialist aggression.
(EmbaCUBA Noruega).