Speaking before the UN Security Council on Tuesday, May 26, Cuban Foreign MinisterBruno Rodríguez stated that Washington’s decisions, which amount to an “act of war,” could lead to a “humanitarian catastrophe” if they continue to be enforced, as they “kill and cause suffering” among Cubans. In light of this, he called on the international community to intervene and allow Cuba to exercise its right to exist.

“The oil embargo that the US imposes on Cuba is equivalent in its effects to a naval blockade, which is an act of war and genocide that subjects the Cuban population to conditions that threaten their integrity and existence and constitutes a cruel and indiscriminate ‘collective punishment’ that today causes deaths, as reflected in the doubling of the infant mortality rate, from 4.0 to 9.9 per thousand live births, or the reduction in life expectancy for children with cancer from 85% to 65%,” said Rodríguez.

Cuba has been cut off from reliable access to fuel since December 2025.

While its trade with Venezuela, one of its primary oil suppliers, was already inhibited due to the US Naval blockade on Venezuela imposed in December, the commercial route was further blocked following January 3, when US forces attacked Venezuela and took then-President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores prisoner (now detained in New York). As a first order of business after the January 3 attack, Washington ordered the suspension of all crude oil shipments to Cuba, which relies heavily on hydrocarbons for the functioning of the country at nearly every level (electricity, health, education, production, transportation, trade, etc.).

At the end of January, Washington threatened to impose tax sanctions on any country that sells oil to Cuba. Only one Russian ship has arrived in all of 2026. The situation has rapidly worsened for the civilian population. Added to this is an economic and commercial blockade that has been in place in Cuba since the 1960s and which, together with the energy blockade, aims to destroy the revolutionary process that began in 1959.

Against diplomatic hypocrisy

The Cuban foreign minister also took the opportunity to criticize the statements made by the European Union’s High Representative, Kaja Kallas, who, according to Rodríguez, applies a “double standard” when speaking about Cuba: “It lacks objectivity and betrays a marked double standard not to recognize that the illegal, cruel, and unjust collective punishment that the US government imposes on the Cuban people – with an unprecedented tightening of the blockade, the oil embargo, and the military threat – constitutes the main causes of the difficult situation Cubans face today.”

“Nor has there been any expression of concern or support for the many European companies and citizens who are being threatened and harmed by the latest US measures, which are clearly extraterritorial and illegal,” Rodríguez said in response to Kallas’ statements.

“A bloodbath”

Furthermore, Rodríguez, echoing the words of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, emphasized that if the United States were to attack Cuba, it would be provoking “a bloodbath.” On several occasions, Trump has said he is considering the possibility of attacking Cuba to put an end to the revolutionary government, a move that has been categorically rejected by Havana and its allies, such as Russia and China.

In this regard, the Cuban foreign minister said: “A military attack would lead to a bloodbath. Thousands of Cubans would die defending the homeland and sacred values and causes, and young Americans would also perish, with no cause or ideal to defend, dragged into violence by an imperialist, neo-fascist policy of domination, plunder, and conquest.”

A few days ago, the US justice system filed charges against Raúl Castro, the Revolution’s highest-ranking living leader, for the downing of two aircraft in the 1990s that had entered Cuban airspace and, despite requests from the Cuban military, did not leave its territory.

Some analysts have seen in this accusation a script very similar to the one followed by Washington before attacking Venezuela, namely, the initiation of legal proceedings against senior leaders of countries that are allegedly a threat to the United States, an increase in military personnel in the area, and subsequently the assassination or capture of senior government leaders to bring about a political transition controlled by Washington.

In this regard, Rodríguez said: “Cuba is not a threat to the United States. It is the government of that country that constantly threatens our people with military aggression and, through its punitive measures, causes severe harm to Cuban families … We denounce the infamous and arbitrary filing of criminal charges against the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz. It is a morally despicable act that abuses the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, manipulates the location of the downing of the planes that occurred in Cuban air and maritime territory, ignores the terrorist and illegal missions these planes frequently carried out, in violation of U.S. laws, and disregards the right of states to self-defense,” Rodríguez told Fox News.

Rodríguez thus emphasized that his government remains open to dialogue and to welcoming US businesspeople and tourists to strengthen the “deep and historic ties” that unite the American and Cuban peoples. However, he also stated that if a military attack were to occur, Cuba would respond: “Let no one doubt that should the moment arrive – a moment we hope will never occur – the people of Cuba will fight to the bitter end. Homeland or death! We shall overcome!”

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