“The Blockade Suffocates and Kills Silently” — Cuban Foreign Minister

July 7, 2026  Granma

Against Cuba, the United States government is waging a multidimensional, unconventional war that has lasted for almost seven decades and has become more brutal and ruthless in the last seven months.

Now, an energy blockade, equivalent to a naval embargo and an act of war, has been added. Access to fuel supplies to Cuba, both commercial and humanitarian, is being prevented through direct threats, unilateral coercive actions, and even the harassment or intimidation of tankers by U.S. naval forces.

There have been repeated threats of military aggression from the highest levels of the US government, and public sources describe war options and preparations.

In addition to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade, there are unprecedented actions of an extremely extraterritorial nature, such as the use of secondary sanctions that follow the macabre plan to provoke a humanitarian crisis in Cuba and the total destabilization of the country, which would pave the way or force the presidential order for an imperialist military intervention that would cause a bloodbath and numerous losses of Cuban and American lives.

When asked if economic pressure against Cuba would continue to intensify, President Donald Trump himself responded, and I quote: “I don’t think much more pressure can be exerted, short of going in and wrecking the place.”

In recent months, the humanitarian damage to our population has multiplied, with the deterioration of the quality of life, the reduction of sources of subsistence, the limitation of the potential for personal, family and social development, and the massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of an entire people in an act of collective punishment.

These are all matters of high importance and urgency that deserve not only the attention, but the clearest pronouncement of the United Nations and its most universal and representative body, the General Assembly, by virtue of its mandate to preserve international peace and security and to ensure the enjoyment of human rights.

Cuban families, especially children, young people, and mothers, suffer the consequences of prolonged and unbearable blackouts or power outages. Often, when the electricity is out, there is also no drinking water. They know the anguish of not having medicine for a sick person. They are burdened by food shortages and the high prices of basic necessities.

The infant mortality rate of 4.0 per thousand live births has increased to 9.9. This means the preventable death of 1,780 newborns under other conditions, with the availability of suitable equipment, devices and treatments.

The number of people dying from cancer in the country has increased significantly. Among children and young adults, the survival rate has fallen from 85% to 65%. This trend coincides with the most intense period of the U.S. embargo.

The blockade suffocates and kills silently. Addressing this ruthless crime is also a responsibility of the United Nations.

The United States government, and especially its State Department, spreads the lie that the blockade is not directed against the Cuban people, but only against the government. Ask the people of Cuba if they suffer from the blockade or not. Even ask the diplomats, correspondents, and other foreigners who live in Cuba.

We have heard, in an abuse of procedure, the shameless intervention of the United States delegate. He has not referred to any of the issues I have mentioned.

It is not surprising, because it represents the government responsible for the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the one responsible for dozens of military interventions and the protection of the most brutal military dictatorships in Latin America and other regions.

This is the government complicit in the genocide taking place in Gaza, in the repression of professors and students protesting at universities. It is the government responsible for the militarization of cities for political purposes, the brutal repression of immigrants, the police hunt for them, and the separation of young children.

It is not surprising because the delegate represents the government responsible for dozens of extrajudicial executions in the Pacific, Atlantic and Caribbean oceans, under the pretext of acts against unproven international crimes.

The authorities are responsible for police brutality against protesters in this country and for the significant increase in deaths in custody.

It represents the government responsible for the existence of a differentiated racial pattern that brutally discriminates against minorities, particularly African American and Hispanic minorities, of the largest prison population on the planet, of the penal and penitentiary system based on differentiated racial patterns.

She also represents the government that pays women less for the same work.

I was surprised by the violation of the rules of procedure of this Assembly and by having to listen to that speech before the Assembly agreed to hold a debate.

I don’t know if we will have another speech from the United States, which, interestingly, was the first country to sign up to the list of speakers, even though it just objected to this debate taking place.

The cynicism of the US delegation in this room is fundamental. They have made a substantial intervention filled with tired lies in an attempt to censor the Assembly’s right to debate precisely these issues.

Whoever abused the rules of procedure to make substantive, slanderous but substantive accusations minutes before or even during them justified the fact that this debate did not take place.

He was trying to infringe upon the General Assembly’s right to address this very issue. He was attempting to exercise an act of censorship, which might be possible in a Green Beret camp, but not in this grand hall.

I don’t know if we will hear again in this session the worn-out argument of the US government, according to which the fuel embargo against Cuba does not exist, that the blockade is a mere justification of the Cuban government for its problems, that the United States is only exercising the right to refuse to trade with Cuba and to apply a simple bilateral embargo.

It is a fallacy that cannot withstand the slightest scrutiny, one that contradicts the actions of the U.S. government regarding Cuba and all the states you represent. It is a lie that no one believes, except perhaps the delegate who spoke, who has even a modicum of information or decency, which he likely lacks.

The damages of the blockade—and I will present new figures—the damages of the blockade in the period between March 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, at current prices, amount to a record $8.083 billion, 7% higher than the previous year. The cumulative impact since its inception reaches $178.7 billion at current prices.

Of course, these figures do not include the extreme impact of the total blockade of fuel supplies to Cuba that began in February.

These impacts are fundamentally the result of extraterritorial coercive actions that violate the norms of international law, international trade, and freedom of navigation, as well as infringing upon the sovereign prerogatives of independent states, which you represent, in your right to engage with Cuba in accordance with your own interests and laws.

In addition to the brutal energy blockade, other measures have been imposed throughout the year with the same purpose, aiming to ensure that sovereign governments comply with the illegitimate prohibitions imposed by the United States on trade with Cuba.

The United States government forces sovereign states, citizens, and businesspeople to abandon their relationship with Cuba, not out of self-interest, not because of commercial disadvantages, not even by mandate of their own governments, but by the dictate of a foreign regime, in this case that of the United States, which supposedly has no jurisdiction or authority over the activity of citizens and businesspeople outside its borders.

Cuba, as a free, independent and sovereign state, rejects the claim that the form of government, the economic model and the foreign relations that our nation must adopt should be dictated from another country.

Probably, if the United States delegation decides to repeat its intervention, we will hear the mendacious arguments that the United States government usually puts forward and that the delegate has already told us to justify the crime of genocide.

He would cite as supposed evidence figures of selective exports from the United States to Cuba, highly regulated, which depend on licenses or permits from the government of that country, in violation of universally accepted rules of trade and freedom of navigation, and now circumscribed almost exclusively to the private sector, which is also limited in its economic links with US counterparts.

These exports do nothing to help solve the main problems that cause hardship and suffering for our people. They do not help, because the U.S. government does not allow it, to restore our capacity to generate electricity or supply drinking water.

The United States government does not allow exports that contribute to the development of public transportation, ensure hospital services, benefit education, or even protect food supplies for the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

The delegate failed to mention that the United States government offered humanitarian aid, which was immediately accepted weeks ago by the Cuban government, but that the aid has been delayed and its contents restricted for political reasons.

He also made no mention of the fact that the U.S. delegation to the World Food Programme was isolated in a vote in its attempt to block a $116 million food aid program for Cuba.

The US delegation keeps repeating, as an attempt at justification, that the Cuban government is supposedly incapable.

Anyone present here might reasonably ask, how can the problems mentioned by the distinguished delegate of the United States be attributed to the government of a country that is subjected to a genocidal blockade by his own government and that has endured this economic aggression for almost 70 years, and has developed, despite itself, a great social and human development program?

How could the Cuban government be blamed for the consequences of the total deprivation of fuel and other essential supplies implemented over the past seven months? How could it not be acknowledged that, despite this, Cuba remains stable, there is no large-scale humanitarian crisis, and the defense of our people has not wavered and will not waver?

We are relieved and encouraged by the collective solidarity, the participation and effort of everyone, particularly women and young people in the communities, in the search for solutions, and by the intense and tireless management of the Party, the State, the Government, the local organs of people’s power and the delegates of the population, of the civil society organizations.

The sovereign, very sovereign, recent and profound economic and social transformations adopted by our National Assembly to adapt the Cuban socialist model to the harsh realities of today, including the brutal and growing aggression of the United States, generate hope in our people.

We appreciate the broad international support and cooperation of numerous governments, parliaments, political forces, organizations, solidarity movements and associations of Cubans residing abroad.

The hostility and threat that Cuba faces today is part of a worrying sequence of violations of international law and is a prelude to what could happen to any other country tomorrow.

We must ask ourselves in this Assembly whether this is the new world order toward which we are heading. We must consider whether this supposed order would be consistent with the principles and purpose of this organization, whether this is the path that will safeguard international peace and security, promote understanding among equally sovereign states, and foster cooperation, trade, development, and respect for human rights.

It is essential to prevent this behavior of domination, plunder, occupation, dispossession and cognitive warfare from becoming integrated into an international order even worse than that of the last few decades.

It is essential to defend the founding values of the United Nations, international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and to uphold the promise to save present and future generations from the scourge of war.

There are bilateral diplomatic talks that were proposed by the United States government and accepted by Cuba, in accordance with its tradition and foreign policy principles, with the frank and constructive aim of trying to find a solution to bilateral differences.

But they show no progress and it is unlikely they will if the expectation of those who lead it in Washington is to treat Cuba as a defeated or conquered adversary, as a colonial possession or a dominion over which the United States has jurisdiction and authority.

The data confirms that this aggressive behavior does not represent the interests of the majority of U.S. citizens. According to a study completed yesterday, 98.3% of posts and comments on social media in the United States do not support the energy embargo, the blockade, or any aggression against Cuba.

This genocidal and criminal policy stems from the anti-Cuban and vindictive whims of a tiny but powerful and influential segment, concentrated primarily in South Florida, which has demonstrated the capacity to manipulate the U.S. political system and influence the actions of the current administration.

I don’t know if the United States delegation will repeat in the next few minutes the ridiculous argument that Cuba represents a threat to the national security of the greatest military and nuclear power on the planet, aggressive, predatory, oriented towards imposing peace through force.

There is no statement from the Cuban government, no evidence, not even the slightest indication that Cuba intends to threaten the United States. No activity can be identified in Cuba that jeopardizes the national security, the well-being of its citizens, or the competitiveness of the economy of that powerful neighbor.

Cuba is not a threat. The embargo is. The nation under threat is Cuba.

But we are a nation committed to and a defender of peace, international law, multilateralism, truth and justice.

A people who have been fighting for their freedom and independence for more than 150 years and who have written pages of glory by standing firm against all attacks, will defend their independence and sovereignty to the bitter end.

In the centennial year of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, faithful to his legacy, the decision of Cubans will always be:

Homeland or Death. We will overcome.