Published in: Blockade against Cuba
Cuba is a country that has been, more than blockaded, I would say tortured.
Silvio Rodríguez to Rolling Stone
Two days ago, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced the enormous pressure that the United States Department of State has exerted on governments around the world to prevent them from voting in favor of the Cuban resolution against the blockade at the United Nations General Assembly.
Under the central argument that the blockade is not the cause of the Cuban economic problems and that Cuba is a threat to the peace and security of our region, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sent a letter to capitals around the world threatening sanctions if the Trump administration’s wishes are not met.
On her Facebook account, Johana Tablada, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the United States, noted, “It is surprising to see the escalation of blatant lies and the state of denial that senior officials at the State Department and other U.S. government agencies have entered when they claim that the blockade against Cuba does not exist, while they apply it with maximum rigor and without blushing.”
Bruno Rodríguez at a Press Conference on October 22, 2025 >>
“What could be the reason for this irrational anxiety on the part of the United States State Department, if not the conviction that the blockade, at the legal level, causes total isolation and profound discredit to US foreign policy, and that they will once again be punished by absolute isolation, singling out, criticism, and direct appeals from governments around the world to lift the blockade?”
We share with you a summary prepared by MINREX analysts of Marco Rubio’s main measures in 2025 to torture Cuba.
These additional measures were added to the more than 200 that Trump adopted under pressure from Rubio himself between 2019 and 2021, along with others such as Bolton, Pompeo, and Claver Carone in key positions on the demolition team of the first Trump administration, which erased the discreet progress made during the Obama administration. All of these draconian measures remain in effect today.
Measures adopted by the Trump administration and its foreign policy team, hijacked for Cuba by Marco Rubio and his congressional “partners in crime” (closing August 2025)
1. Reinstatement of Cuba to the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism (aggravates the effects of the blockade, especially in the financial sphere, increases country risk, and discourages European and Asian tourism). (January 20)
2. Reactivation of Donald Trump’s 2017 Presidential Memorandum No. 5 (openly affirms the objectives of regime change, restricting tourism, supporting programs of interference and subversion, and enforcing the blockade through the Helms-Burton Act). (January 20)
3. Termination of the humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Nicaraguans and the CBP One application, allowing entry through eight ports of entry to the U.S. (January 20).
4. Reactivation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, to discourage investors and businesspeople from other countries doing business in Cuba. For the first time (which is contrary to law) it allows lawsuits in U.S. courts against entities that invest in properties nationalized in Cuba after the triumph of the Revolution, including those belonging to Cuban citizens who subsequently became naturalized U.S. citizens. (January 31).
5. Reestablishment of the list of restricted Cuban entities, with which entities and individuals in the U.S. are prohibited from conducting any transactions (which also has extraterritorial reach). (February 6)
6. Inclusion of the Cuban remittance company Orbit S.A. on the list of restricted Cuban entities (hence Western Union’s decision to suspend its activities with Cuba). (February 6)
7. Trump included Cuba, along with Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China, which he considers “foreign adversaries,” in the executive order limiting access to US technology, especially in the area of artificial intelligence platforms available to all countries. This measure adds to the more than 300 unavailable applications and once again discriminates against our students, researchers, and the general population. (February 21)
8. Suspension of visas to Cubans for cultural, sports, academic, scientific, and other exchanges. (February 21)
9. Restriction of entry visas to the US for Cuban and foreign citizens, and their families, linked to Cuba’s international cooperation programs, particularly those in the health sector, but also in other areas. (February 25)
10. Inclusion of Cuba on the List of Countries That Do Not Maintain Effective Counterterrorism Measures in Their Ports. The measure authorizes the U.S. Coast Guard to impose entry requirements for vessels originating from Cuban territory into the United States due to Cuba’s status as a state sponsor of terrorism. (March 21)
11. Prohibition of access to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) controlled access data repository and associated data from institutions located in Cuba or other “countries of interest” (April 2).
12. Suspension of immigration talks through April 2025. (April 17).
13. Imposition of a notification regime for the Cuban Embassy in Washington prior to any exchanges with or visits to representatives of local and state governments, educational institutions, and research centers, including agricultural facilities and national laboratories. (April 18).
14. Suspension of payments and requirement to open accounts abroad for Cuban hosts by the accommodation platform Airbnb. (May 5)
15. Prohibition of entry to the United States by the State Department of a prosecutor and three judges from the Havana Provincial Court and their relatives for their alleged involvement in the judicial process of an individual who participated in the July 11 case. (May 21)
16. Restriction of visas for entry to the United States for Central American government officials and their relatives with ties to Cuban medical cooperation programs. (June 3)
17. Suspension, by presidential proclamation, of entry to the United States for Cuban immigrants and non-immigrants in the B-1 (business), B-2 (tourism), B-1/B-2 (tourism or business), F (students/scholars), M (students/scholars), and J (doctors/exchange visit) visa categories. (June 4)
18. Visa denial for the 16 members of the Cuban women’s volleyball team, including athletes and coaches, who were scheduled to participate in the NORCECA Final Four in Puerto Rico. (June 26)
19. Reissue and amendments to Presidential Memorandum 5 on Strengthening United States Policy Toward Cuba, which reaffirm the maximum pressure policy and expand trade restrictions. (June 30)
20. Inclusion of eight new hotels on Cuba’s Restricted Entities List and Prohibited Accommodations List. (July 11)
21. Visa restrictions for Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel Bermúdez, Minister of the Armed Forces Álvaro López Miera, and Minister of the Interior Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, and their family members. (July 11)
22. Visa denial to seven members of the coaching staff of the baseball team from the municipality of Pinar del Rio, La Palma, preventing them from traveling to the qualifying tournament for the Little League Softball World Series, girls’ category 9-10. (July 13)
23. Visa and permit revocation by the State Department for Cuban and Brazilian government officials, former officials of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and their family members, for participating in the Cuban medical collaboration program “More Doctors.” (August 13)
24. Visa restrictions by the State Department for African, Cuban, and Grenadian government officials and their family members for their participation in Cuba’s medical mission programs. This included denying Cuban First Deputy Minister of Public Health Tania Margarita and her delegation the opportunity to participate in the General Council of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC, where its headquarters are located.
25. On September 25, a new increase in funding for communications disinformation operations was announced. According to the announcement, the administration of President Donald Trump will allocate $400 million to support activities to counter the influence in the Western Hemisphere of the “Marxist and anti-American” regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. This is in addition to the millions already spent and reinforced by the reduction of funding for vaccines and foreign aid to those most in need around the world.
You can also review government websites, especially those of the Departments of the Treasury, State, Energy, and Commerce, although there is much more to investigate regarding the detail and overwhelming and abusive scope of the harshest medieval siege measures currently in place in the world against any nation.
Here are some sites:
https://www.ecfr.gov/…/subtitle-B/chapter-V/part-515…
https://www.state.gov/division-for…/cuba-restricted-list
https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions…/cuba-sanctions
(With information from Johana Tablada and a team of analysts from MINREX)
IMAGE CREDIT: Marco Rubio and the State Department: Cynicism and Blockade. AI-Generated Image
[ SOURCE: CUBA DEBATE ]
