Communiqué issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba — Havana, May 7, 2026
Originally published in Struggle-La Lucha.
The Executive Order of May 1st and the Blockade Measures Announced May 7 Further Increase the Harm to the Cuban Population and Reinforce the Threat of Aggression
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects, in the strongest possible terms, the Executive Order issued by the White House on May 1, 2026, which tightens, to unprecedented and extreme levels, the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
It likewise condemns the decision adopted by the U.S. Treasury Department on May 7, 2026, to include the Cuban entities GAESA and MoaNickel S.A. in the Specially Designated Nationals List, being this the first coercive measure resulting from the order signed on May 1st.
We are being witness to a ruthless act of economic aggression which multiplies the extraterritorial effects of the blockade, which includes the potential implementation of secondary sanctions against companies, banks and foreign entities, even if their businesses in the United States are not related to Cuba. This measure will further hamper the operation of Cuba’s national economy which has been already facing, since January 29, 2026, the nefarious effects of the oil blockade imposed by the U.S. government as from that date, which paralyzed fuel exports to the country.
The U.S., acting as a world’s gendarme and in open violation of International Law and the basic norms governing the free trade in goods and services, is explicitly, starkly and straightforwardly attacking the sovereign faculty of all States which have or wish to have economic, commercial and financial relations with Cuba. The highest U.S. authorities, particularly the Secretary of State, try to impose on the international community, by resorting to blackmail and intimidation, their submission to and acceptance of the blockade.
No country is exempted from this threat of expansion of the genocide against the Cuban people, which is intended to force the isolation of Cuba from the international economic and financial scene.
We warn that this aggression against the Cuban economy and the Cuban people will only achieve the destructive effect it pursues if sovereign and independent nations allow themselves to be frightened or intimidated by the government of the United States. We know that the world will never meekly accept illegal rules; that it will never renounce sovereign equality nor leave their citizens, business people, corporations and financial entities unprotected. The international community has historically opposed and condemned the genocide that is being committed against the people of Cuba by the government of the United States which has already been in place for almost seven decades now.
We denounce the criminal nature of these aggressive measures aimed at surrendering the entire Cuban population by hunger and desperation, in an attempt to generate a social, economic and political catastrophe at a national scale. We likewise reject the intention of the U.S. government to fabricate a humanitarian crisis situation to justify far more dangerous actions, including a military aggression against Cuba.
Cuba will continue to condemn the blockade at all international fora. We also call upon the international community to confront this onslaught, which is a dangerous escalation by the U.S. in the interest of exerting its domination and controlling Cuba’s destiny and a violation against the independence and sovereignty of all States.
Michael Li is Senior Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
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