Geneva, June 20, 2025. The Cuban delegation to the Humanitarian Affairs Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which concluded today at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, responded strongly to manipulative and misleading statements by the United States delegation regarding the economic blockade imposed against the island.
The Cuban representative, Roberto Soto Martínez, denounced the attempts by US representatives to minimize the severity and real impact of the blockade on Cuban families, citing alleged flexibilities to export agricultural products, medicines, medical devices, and other basic goods to Cuba from the United States.
The Cuban diplomat stated that the alleged "flexibilities" are, in reality, one-way sales under very strict licenses and subject to extraordinary limitations, including a prohibition on such transactions being supported by credit or financing of any kind.
He explained that the permit is only granted for sales with advance and cash payments. Products can only be transported on U.S. ships, which return empty to their ports of origin.
He emphasized that the United States government is depriving Cuba of the financial resources it needs to import goods, including food or inputs for the food industry, from any country in the world. He also referred to the severe impact of the blockade on food production in Cuba, hindering the availability of fuel, seeds, fertilizers, animal feed, pesticides, and other inputs.
"The United States government is also lying when it claims that the blockade does not impede access to medicines or medical equipment," Soto Martínez stated. In this regard, he said that the US Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 was written to make any transaction with Cuba virtually impossible.
He stated that, even if Cuba is willing to purchase medicines or medical supplies in the United States, which is the closest market geographically, it is almost impossible for a US national to submit to the conditions established for selling to our country. In practical terms, he said, it is not possible for Cuba to access suitable medical equipment, treatments, and drugs from U.S. companies, which we must purchase at exorbitant prices through intermediaries or substitute with less effective generics, even for newborns and sick children.
He added that the chilling effect of the United States' persecution of Cuban financial transactions abroad constitutes the main impediment to the entry of medical supplies into Cuba, as it hinders trade relations with several regular partners and suppliers.
He affirmed that the United States government is well aware of the suffering and anguish it causes, and the consequences in terms of incomplete or delayed treatments, postponed surgeries, and scarce medical supplies.
The Cuban representative concluded his response by emphasizing: “The US conduct is absolutely unilateral and unjustified. There is no act by Cuba that threatens the independence of the United States or its national security, that harms its sovereign rights, interferes in its internal affairs, or that affects the well-being of its citizens. It is unacceptable to deprive an entire people of the right to peace, self-determination, development, and human progress.”