On May 1st, millions of Cubans across the island marched together to denounce, with one voice, the genocidal economic, financial, commercial, and energy blockade imposed by the U.S. government. Washington's response to this demonstration in defense of sovereignty was swift. That same day, accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the current occupant of the White House signed a new executive order with further measures aimed at further strangling the Cuban economy and people. As if that weren't enough, he accompanied this decision with renewed threats of military aggression against a small but dignified country like Cuba. "As soon as we're done with Iran, we'll take care of Cuba," President Donald Trump declared.
The executive order of May 1st represents an extraordinary escalation of US aggression against Cuba. It is a criminal act, in flagrant violation of international law, the principles and Charter of the UN, and numerous UN resolutions. It signifies a qualitative expansion of the blockade by incorporating the application of additional (or secondary’s in the terms of the executive order) sanctions against entities in third countries that operate or have operated in Cuba. This dimension surpasses the extraterritorial effect of the blockade as it has been seen until now.
These new measures, reflects the worrying and dangerous insistence of the US on imposing on all countries, their companies, organizations, and individuals, the obligation to comply with the economic blockade against Cuba, force them to join the criminal and open economic war that is having such a negative impact on the lives of more than 10 million Cubans living on the island. It seeks to impose by force the will of the US government over the sovereign prerogatives of each state.
For Cuba, this represents an immense danger, adding to the existing blockade that has been in place for over six decades and the energy blockade implemented in January of this year. In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, no country, large or small, regardless of its level of economic development, has demonstrated the capacity to manage its economy and ensure its survival under conditions of forced disconnection and total isolation from the international economy, which is precisely the aim of the US aggression against Cuba.
The US government is using every means possible to promote a scenario of total collapse in the economic and social living standards of the Cuban population, in a way that the White House can be able to sustain their slanderous campaign of portraying Cuba as a failed state, and to justify a military aggression as a supposed “humanitarian and liberating action.” In addition, the US government, and especially its Secretary of State, insists on repeating continuously, the lie that Cuba represents a danger to US national security. Cuba is not an enemy of the United States. Cuba is a peace-loving nation that poses no threat to U.S. national security. Anyone who says otherwise, is either lying dishonestly, demonstrating ignorance, or hasn't seen a map to understand that Cuba is not, and cannot pose, a threat to the United States
We are striving to prevent an escalation of tensions and to convince the United States of the error of its plans for aggression. That is why we are also warning of the real dangers of a U.S. military operation against Cuba, which would have unimaginable consequences in terms of loss of life and the destruction of years of work and effort by our people. Furthermore, its harmful impact would extend far beyond Cuba's borders, directly affecting the other countries in our region.
The draconian measures of collective punishment against the noble Cuban people will only achieve their intended destructive effect if the US succeeds in intimidating and enlisting the rest of the world in this criminal policy. Their impact will depend on the position each country takes: whether to comply with the unilateral US executive order and leave its citizens, organizations, and businesses unprotected, or to defend its sovereign prerogatives and the right to engage in commercial, economic and collaboration relations with Cuba according to its own will.
Cuba calls upon the governments, Political forces, organizations of the social society and peoples of the world, to raise their voices in a sovereign manner and denounce the attempts by the US government to try to subjugate a small nation through genocidal policies of economic and social strangulation, and to unequivocally reject the threats to impose its imperial interests of domination by the use of military force.
The recent economic measures adopted by the Trump Administration, will not bring about the surrender of Cuba that the US seeks, just as the constant threats of military aggression will not achieve it. Cuba is not, nor will it ever be another US possession; it will not become a US neocolonial domain. Cuba will fight at whatever cost is necessary to fully protect its rights as a sovereign state, free from any US tutelage or domination. There should be no doubt whatsoever that Cuba and its rebellious people will surely exercise, to the fullest extent, the sacred right to self-defense enshrined in the UN Charter.
St John´s, May 12,2026.