Buenos Aires (Prensa Latina) With the executive orders issued by Donald Trump on January 29 and May 1, new sanctions were imposed on socialist Cuba. This intensified the illegal blockade formally implemented in February 1962, but which began in practice earlier and continues to this day.
- September 15, 2026
By Sergio Ortiz*
Contributor to Prensa Latina
Both during his first stay in the White House, from 2017 to 2021, and in his second term, the magnate adopted measures that qualify as genocide and is taking them to a new level. He and his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, have even hinted that they are not ruling out military action against the homeland of José Martí and Fidel Castro.
The Secretary of War, formerly known as the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, visited the US military base at Guantanamo Bay – an area usurped from Cuba through the Platt Amendment in 1902 – and urged the troops to be alert and comply with all of Trump’s orders (hopefully this madness will not happen, but in that case those soldiers will be among the first and numerous US casualties).
Speaking of Cuban defense, on September 11, Defense Day of the week, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the Alamar Este area and reaffirmed that “the first priority continues to be defense.”
In other words, the island is on high alert, ready to fulfill its commitment to give everything, even life itself, in defense of its sovereignty and the achievements of the Revolution.
Even more so after all the patriotic and socialist activities held last August to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth. There were events, colloquiums, conferences, and seminars organized by the Communist Party and Cuban organizations, with numerous international guests and organizations.
The damage caused by the blockade continues to escalate. The report presented by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, which will be presented at the UN General Assembly next October, details this in meticulous detail.
The direct economic damage, between March 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, amounted to $8.083 billion. Added to the figures for previous years, this totals $178.7 billion at current prices.
Without the damage caused by the blockade, the Cuban economy could have grown 10.8 percent this year and consequently improved the living standards, health, education, infrastructure and other aspects of the population.
In contrast, with this almost total nine-month oil shortage, during which only one Russian tanker entered the country, Cubans suffer daily power outages of 20 hours or more, with the resulting hardships in homes and hospitals where there are 100,000 patients, including 12,000 children who cannot be operated on due to these emergencies.
Numerous containers of medicine and supplies already paid for by Havana cannot reach port, be unloaded, or be distributed because shipping companies are under intense pressure from the Trump administration. As a result of these inhumane measures, infant mortality in the country has been rising: it increased by 148 percent from 2018 to 2025, from four per thousand live births to 9.9.
These power outages lead to a shortage of drinking water. This is because the water supply sources operate using electric motors that stop during the blackouts.
As the Cuban Foreign Minister rightly says, these aren’t just numbers; they are lives being lost in a country that was once, and still is, a model for its healthcare system focused on the well-being of Cubans—from pregnancies to infants and the elderly, encompassing all ages.
IT WILL BE VICTORY 34
Since the 1992 UN General Assembly, the Cuban Foreign Ministry has been presenting its motion for the United States to lift the embargo. This motion has garnered overwhelming support from a majority of nations; only the US, Zionist Israel, and a handful of subservient governments like that of Javier Milei vote against Havana.
Everything indicates that it will be the 34th Cuban victory since 1992. The movement of peoples in solidarity with Cuba is the decisive factor in these elections in New York.
Rodríguez Parrilla explained that Trump, by keeping the island on the list of “State sponsors of terrorism”, caused 34 international banking entities to suspend or refuse to carry out operations with Cuba between March 2025 and February 2026.
In July 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) fined Delaware-based global logistics company Key Holding, LLC, $608,825 for alleged violations of the sanctions regime against Cuba. OFAC also fined Connecticut-based global logistics company Interactive Brokers, LLC (IB) $11,832,136 for the same reasons.
Because it primarily affects the island, but also international trade, this influences the majority of the 193 countries in the UN to vote against the blockade. This has significant political value but lacks concrete action, since General Assembly resolutions do not have executive power, which rests with the Security Council, whose five members have veto power. And Washington is one of them.
This demands a profound change in international politics and organization, which must be the result of the struggle for a new world order and a more just world, which is possible, as Fidel called for.
The sanctions continued against the Banco Exterior de Cuba, the Comandante René Ramos Latour Services company; Cexni, an importer and exporter for the nickel and cobalt industry; Abapet, an importer of energy supplies; and Comercial Cupet.
The situation in Cuba remains dire. The world must do more for this dignified country. In a note, Atilio Borón wrote on September 9: “We need more governments that have the audacity to disobey the orders of the empire, not only for Cuba, but also for their own self-interest; let’s hope such governments emerge.”
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