Cuba at the UN: “The Blockade Suffocates and Kills Silently” 

July 7, 2026

Speech by Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, during the United Nations General Assembly debate under agenda item 38, “The need to end the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba”:

Mr. President, Your Excellencies, Permanent Representatives, distinguished delegates:

The United States government is waging a multidimensional, unconventional war against Cuba that has lasted nearly seven decades and has become harsher and more ruthless over the past seven months.

Now an energy blockade has been added—equivalent to a naval blockade—which constitutes an act of war. Access to fuel supplies for Cuba—both commercial and humanitarian—is being blocked 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 U.S. government, and public sources describe military 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 for or force a presidential order for an imperialist military intervention that would result in a bloodbath and massive loss of Cuban and American lives.

When asked whether economic pressure against Cuba would continue to intensify, President Donald Trump himself replied, and I quote: “I don’t think you can put much more pressure on them, except to go in and tear the place apart.”

In recent months, the humanitarian damage to our population has multiplied, with a deterioration in the quality of life, a reduction in sources of livelihood, limitations on 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.

All of these are matters of the utmost importance and urgency that deserve not only the attention but also the clearest possible statement from 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 from prolonged and unbearable power outages. Often, when the electricity goes out, so does the drinking water. They know the anguish of not having medicine for a sick person. They are overwhelmed by food shortages or the high prices of basic necessities.

The infant mortality rate, which stood at 4.0 per 1,000 live births, has risen to 9.9. This means the preventable deaths—under different circumstances, with access to appropriate equipment, devices, and treatments—of 1,780 newborns.

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

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

The U.S. 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 whether or not they suffer from the blockade. Ask even the diplomats, correspondents, and other foreigners living in Cuba.

We have heard, in an abuse of procedure, the shameless statement by the U.S. delegate. He has not addressed any of the issues I have mentioned.

This is not surprising, because he represents the government responsible for the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the government responsible for dozens of military interventions and for supporting the bloodiest military dictatorships in Latin America and other regions.

It is the government complicit in the genocide taking place in Gaza and in the repression at universities against professors and students who protested against it. It is the government responsible for the militarization of cities for political purposes, for the brutal repression of immigrants, for police raids targeting them, and for the separation of young children from their families.

This comes as no surprise, since the delegate represents the government responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean oceans, under the pretext of unproven acts constituting international crimes.

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

He represents the government responsible for the existence of a racially differentiated pattern that brutally discriminates against minorities—particularly African American and Hispanic minorities—for having the largest prison population on the planet, and for a criminal justice and correctional system based on racially differentiated patterns.

He also represents the government that pays women lower wages for the same work.

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

I do not know if we will hear another statement from the United States, which, curiously, was the first country to sign up on the list of speakers, even though it has just objected to this debate taking place.

The cynicism of the U.S. delegation in this chamber is striking. It delivered a substantive statement riddled with tired lies in an attempt to deny the Assembly its right to debate precisely these issues.

The very party that abused the rules of procedure to make substantive—slanderous but substantive—allegations just minutes before, or even during, the debate, was the one arguing that this debate should not take place.

It was attempting to violate the General Assembly’s right to address precisely this issue. It was trying to carry out an act of censorship—something that might be possible in a Green Beret camp, but not in this distinguished chamber.

I do not know if we will hear once again in this session the U.S. government’s tired argument that the fuel blockade against Cuba does not exist, that the blockade is merely an excuse used by the Cuban government to justify its problems, and that the United States is merely exercising its right to refuse to trade with Cuba and to impose a simple bilateral embargo.

It is a fallacy that does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny, one that contradicts the U.S. government’s actions toward Cuba and toward all the states you represent. It is a lie that no one believes, except for the delegate who spoke, who possesses either minimal information or decency—which he may lack.

The damage caused by the blockade—and I will provide new figures—the damage caused by the blockade during the period from March 1, 2025, to February 28, 2026, at current prices, amounts to a record $8,083 million, 7% higher than the previous year. The cumulative impact since its inception totals 178,700 million dollars at current prices.

Of course, these figures cannot include the extreme impact of the total blockade on fuel supplies to Cuba, which began in February itself.

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

In addition to this brutal energy blockade, other measures have been imposed over the course of the year with the same purpose: to compel sovereign governments to comply with the illegitimate prohibitions imposed by the United States on trade with Cuba.

The U.S. government forces sovereign states, citizens, and businesspeople to sever their ties with Cuba—not out of self-interest, not because of commercial disadvantages, nor even at the behest of their own governments—but under the dictates of a foreign regime, in this case that of the United States, which is supposed to have neither jurisdiction nor authority over the activities of citizens and businesspeople outside its borders.

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

Most likely, if the U.S. delegation decides to repeat its intervention, we will hear the mendacious arguments that the U.S. government usually puts forward—and which the delegate has already previewed—to justify the crime of genocide.

He would cite as supposed evidence figures on selective U.S. exports to Cuba—exports that are highly regulated, dependent on licenses or permits from the U.S. government, in violation of universally accepted rules of trade and freedom of navigation, and now limited almost exclusively to the private sector, which is also restricted in its economic ties with U.S. counterparts.

These exports do not in any way contribute to resolving the main problems that cause shortages and suffering among our people. They do not contribute—because the U.S. government does not allow it—to restoring the capacity to generate electricity or supply drinking water.

The U.S. government does not permit exports that would help develop public transportation, ensure hospital services, benefit education, or even protect food supplies for the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

The delegate did not mention that the U.S. government made an offer of humanitarian aid, which was immediately accepted weeks ago by the Cuban government, but which has since been delayed and restricted in scope for political reasons.

Nor did he mention that the U.S. delegation to the World Food Program was isolated in a vote when it attempted to block a $116 million food aid program for Cuba.

The U.S. delegation repeats over and over again, in an attempt to justify its actions, that the Cuban government is supposedly incapable.

Anyone here present might rightly ask: How can the government of a country—against which your government has imposed a genocidal blockade, and which has endured that economic aggression for nearly 70 years, while—despite it all—achieving significant progress in social welfare and human development—be blamed for the problems mentioned by the distinguished U.S. delegate?

How could the Cuban government be blamed for the consequences of the total deprivation of fuel and other essential supplies imposed over the past seven months? How could one fail to recognize that, despite this, stability prevails in Cuba, there is no large-scale humanitarian crisis, and we have not wavered—nor will we waver—in the defense of our people?

We are heartened and encouraged by the collective solidarity, participation, and efforts of everyone—particularly women and young people in the communities—in the search for solutions, as well as by the intense and tireless work of the Party, the State, the Government, the local organs of People’s Power, and the representatives of the people and civil society organizations.

Our people draw hope from the sovereign—truly sovereign—recent and profound economic and social transformations adopted by our National Assembly to adapt the Cuban socialist model to today’s harsh realities, including the brutal and escalating aggression by the United States.

We are grateful for the broad international support and cooperation from numerous governments, parliaments, political forces, organizations, solidarity movements, and associations of Cubans living abroad.

The hostility and threats facing Cuba today are part of a troubling series of violations of international law and 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 reflect on whether this so-called order would be consistent with the principles and raison d’être 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—marked by domination, plunder, occupation, dispossession, and cognitive warfare—from becoming part of an international order even worse than that of recent decades.

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

There are bilateral diplomatic talks proposed by the U.S. government and accepted by Cuba, in accordance with its tradition and foreign policy principles, with the sincere and constructive aim of trying to find a solution to bilateral differences.

But these talks have shown no progress, and it is unlikely they will make any if those leading them in Washington expect to treat Cuba as a defeated or conquered adversary, as a colonial possession, or as a territory over which the United States has jurisdiction and authority.

The data confirm 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 blockade, do not support the trade embargo, and do not support aggression against Cuba.

This genocidal and criminal policy stems from the anti-Cuban and revanchist whims of a tiny but powerful and influential segment concentrated primarily in southern Florida, yet capable of manipulating the U.S. political system and guiding the current administration’s actions.

I do not know whether the U.S. delegation will repeat in the coming minutes the ridiculous argument that Cuba poses a threat to the national security of the world’s greatest military and nuclear power—a power that is aggressive, predatory, and bent on imposing peace through force.

There is no statement from the Cuban government, no evidence, nor even the slightest indication that Cuba has set out to threaten the United States. No activity can be identified in Cuba that jeopardizes the national security, the well-being of citizens, or the economic competitiveness of that powerful neighbor.

Cuba is not a threat. The blockade 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 that has been fighting for its freedom and independence for more than 150 years—and that has written pages of glory by standing firm against all attacks—will defend its independence and sovereignty to the bitter end.

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

Fatherland or Death. We shall prevail.

Source: Cubadebate, translation: Resumen Latinoamericano – English