[News] Cuba Condemns Unprecedented Expansion of U.S. Extraterritorial Sanction

[Anti-Imperialist News]

resumen-english.org
<https://resumen-english.org/2026/05/cuba-condemns-unprecedented-expansion-of-u-s-extraterritorial-sanctions/>
Cuba Condemns Unprecedented Expansion of U.S. Extraterritorial Sanction
------------------------------

By Alejandra Garcia on May 11, 2026

<https://i0.wp.com/resumen-english.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/c_3282-scaled.jpg?ssl=1>

foto: Bill Hackwell

Cuba denounced a historic escalation in U.S. sanctions, describing the
latest measures as a direct assault on the Cuban people and their right to
self-determination. The announcement comes amid a decades-long policy of
hatred, sustained by the successive U.S. administrations, with Cuba framing
the latest executive order signed by the U.S. president on May 1 as a
continuation, and intensification, of a blockade that has sought to isolate
and economically strangle the island nation for more than 70 years.

“Our people already know the cruelty behind the actions of the U.S.
government and the mercilessness with which it is capable of striking us,”
declared Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Communist Party
and President of Cuba, through a statement on X. The pronouncement came
after the U.S. Department of State announced a new batch of sanctions under
the executive order signed on May 1.

The Cuban leader described the measures as “a unilateral aggression against
a nation and a population whose only ambition is to live in peace, in
control of their destiny, and free from the pernicious interference of U.S.
imperialism.” He added that while the sanctions intensify the already dire
economic situation, they only strengthen Cuba’s resolve to defend the
homeland, the Revolution, and socialism.

In the same vein, Cuban Foreign Ministry official Alejandro Garcia del Toro
warned that the new executive order represents “an unprecedented escalation
in Washington’s sanctions policy toward Cuba,” marked by the explicit use
of extraterritorial measures. Speaking as deputy director general of the
U.S. Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), Garcia del
Toro said the policy stretches U.S. coercive reach “to extremes never
before seen in U.S. legislation.”

Tracing the origins of the sanctions to the 1960s blockade under President
John F. Kennedy, he described them as a decades-long campaign aimed at
“suffocating the Cuban economy” and undermining the country’s production.
Extraterritorial measures, he said, have long been a cornerstone of U.S.
policy, citing early restrictions on Cuban sugar and, later, Cuba’s nickel
exports—rules that penalize not just Cuba, but any country trading with it.

“The interest of the U.S. government is not merely to block Cuban exports
directly,” Garcia del Toro said. “By controlling exports from third
countries to the United States, they further restrict our capacity to trade
and survive economically.”

He noted that the sanctions’ reach intensified with the Helms-Burton Act of
1996 and related measures, but he warned that the May 1 executive order
represents a qualitative leap: “A desperate attempt to leave Cuba and its
government practically without options to sustain the economy.”

Highlighting the human cost, Garcia del Toro emphasized that Cuba has
endured “the longest and most comprehensive regime of coercive measures
ever applied against any country” for more than 70 years. Blocking export
revenue, denying access to international banking, and undermining Cuban
medical brigades abroad threatens the country’s ability to maintain its
free healthcare system.

“If there are no banks willing to process payments for our supplies, if we
cannot collect payment for our exports, then there is no income to keep the
economy functioning,” he said. “It becomes very easy for the U.S.
government to push the narrative of Cuban ‘incompetence’, built on the
suffering caused by their own policies.”

As the economic pressures mount, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to
sovereignty, portraying the sanctions as more than a financial measure.
They are an enduring challenge to the resolve and unity of its people.

*Alejandra Garcia* is a Latin American correspondent for Resumen
Latinoamericano and an evening anchor for Telesur evening news in English

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20260513/49c37146/attachment.htm>