Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel asserted that the Caribbean nation will not yield to new coercive measures imposed by the U.S. government — measures he accused of attempting to suffocate the Cuban economy.
“It is part of the same design of economic strangulation and collective punishment intended to subjugate an entire nation, based on false and absurd justifications that neither the rest of the world nor U.S. citizens believe,” Díaz-Canel wrote in a message posted over the weekend on the social network X.
“They will not break us!” the Cuban president emphasized, maintaining that the true threat is not Cuba, but rather the economic, commercial and financial blockade that the United States has maintained against the country for more than six decades.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, based in Washington, announced five new sanctions targeting individuals, companies, and vessels linked to Cuba’s oil and technology sectors — including two Chinese firms.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced on the same social network that the sanctions against the Chinese firms — ostensibly due to their ties with Cuban institutions — are part of a “pathological policy of economic strangulation” devised and directed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
According to the Foreign Minister, these measures serve as “further proof of the extraterritorial and illegal nature” of the blockade, which operates outside the laws that govern international trade. Rodríguez added that Washington seeks to hinder and sabotage the “strategic, multifaceted, and legitimate” cooperation between China and Cuba.
China’s Ministry of Commerce expressed firm opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions against Chinese companies, stating that they violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations, a spokesperson indicated yesterday.
Since the executive order of January 29, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified measures against Cuba by imposing an oil blockade — which restricts fuel supplies to the island — as well as sanctions on Cuban firms and threats against foreign companies that conduct business with the country.
IMAGE CREDIT: Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla/ Cubadebate
(With information from Xinhua)
