Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the United States on Saturday of applying a “collective punishment” and a “sadistic” crime through its maximum pressure policy over the past seven months, aimed at provoking a social outburst on the island, during an event with foreign sympathisers held ahead of the national commemoration of July 26.
The president added that the oil blockade and the waves of sanctions in recent weeks have a “perverse” purpose. He further underscored that the measures constituted collective punishment and a crime, stating that they condemn a people with the aim of seeking economic suffocation to trigger social unrest.
RELATED: Powerful Facts About the July 26 Moncada Assault on the Barracks That Changed Cuba
Díaz-Canel argued that the international community must show solidarity with Cuba, warning that Washington could replicate this form of pressure elsewhere. He cautioned that it could happen to any other nation if it continues to be allowed, and asserted that supporting Cuba means defending the right of peoples to self-determination, sovereignty and independence. In his view, being on Cuba’s side means fighting against hegemonism, supremacy and the pretensions of a power to dictate its designs worldwide.
The most recent fallacy of the #US State Department against #Cuba is part of the fabrication, by the Secretary of State, of a pretext to sustain his cruel and criminal economic warfare that punishes every Cuban family and his aspirations of a military attack against Cuba, for… pic.twitter.com/9PAXmoBWUe
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) July 21, 2026
The president acknowledged that “today’s Cuba is a different country” due to U.S. pressure, and spoke of the consequences of the oil blockade, which has notably increased blackouts on the island. He also recognised the deterioration of the national health system, one of the traditional pillars of the revolution.
Washington has been applying a maximum pressure policy on the island since January, which the United Nations has branded as contrary to international law. The Trump administration, which has simultaneously called on Havana to negotiate, is seeking a political and economic change in the country.
| Defender a #Cuba es defender el derecho a la soberanía y a la independencia.
El Presidente @DiazCanelB sostuvo en Pinar del Río un encuentro con los grupos de solidaridad que llegan a nuestro país para conmemorar el Día de la Rebeldía Nacional.
| https://t.co/DW5wVe4u9A pic.twitter.com/7cMzLhuIcL
— Presidencia Cuba
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.