By Carlos Fernandez de Cossio on June 13, 2025
photo: Bill Hackwell
Like any developing country, Cuba faces the disadvantages of an international economic order inherited from colonialism and neocolonialism, which perpetuates the subaltern status in the international system of those who suffer from underdevelopment, unequal exchange, and limits on the transfer of technology and capital from developed countries, most of them former colonial metropolises, beneficiaries of the regime of exploitation, plunder, and slavery that this regime represented.
It also experiences the condition of being a country with scarce natural resources.
But what is unique about Cuba, what distinguishes its situation above all other factors, is the fact that it is the target of a ruthless, prolonged, and extremely asymmetric economic war by the United States, the world’s greatest economic, technological, and military power. There is no similar example in the long and disastrous history of the use of unilateral coercive measures for political purposes by developed countries against developing countries. Without acknowledging this fact, any analysis of the Cuban situation is superficial or deliberately biased.
The impact of the US effort to hinder Cuba’s trade relations worldwide is overwhelming. The US ability to impede, obstruct, and sabotage Cuba’s access to sources of financing in any country or region is more effective today than ever before, as is its ability to impede or severely limit Cuba’s access to technology. The intimidation of citizens of more than 40 countries to renounce their right to visit Cuba is absurd and supposedly unacceptable, but effective. Actions to impede the supply of fuel to Cuba are criminal and extremely damaging.
Representatives of the current US administration have acknowledged that their objective is to refine the design of the maximum pressure policy to make it more effective in terms of harm to the Cuban economy and people. They have stated that they will be more creative in identifying and attempting to cut off Cuba’s external sources of income, with the clear objective of collapsing the economy.
Cuba is going through a period of great challenges, represented by instability and economic imbalances. It faces inflation, low purchasing power for a representative segment of the population, and a shortage of essential services such as health, transportation, communications, water supply, community services, and electricity generation, among other realities. The impact on well-being, standard of living, and the satisfaction of needs and aspirations is visible. It is also evident in the morale and feelings of the population.
Before judging the skill, wisdom, or effectiveness of the Cuban government’s economic management by the many who observe us and feel empowered to express an opinion, ask yourself what country would have had the capacity like Cuba to sustain itself, advance social development, achieve justice for all, ensure public peace, and even practice solidarity. Consider what country would have had the capacity like Cuba to confront such a ruthless war under such disadvantaged conditions. The recent shock among many countries at the US government’s tariff measures provides a very faint and comparatively insignificant signal of the damaging effect that that country’s coercive measures can have.
Consider the goals Cuba’s aggressors have set for themselves, what they have pursued since the 1960s with the confidence of achieving their objective, the predictions they have made for more than 60 years, the nature, content, and extraterritorial scope of the economic coercion measures they have applied against our country.
The economic blockade is the fundamental obstacle to Cuba’s economic development and to the progress and well-being of Cubans. There is no factor that can compare in its impact and the damage it causes.
Carlos Fernández de Cossio is the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba