US Extends Cuba Embargo for Another Year; Cuba Condemns 'Genocidal Policy'

The Cuban government has strongly protested the United States' announcement that it will extend its trade embargo against Cuba for another year.

Local media outlets such as Cubadebate and AFP reported on the 26th, local time, that Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated via X (formerly Twitter) the previous day that he "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the extension.

He criticized the embargo against Cuba as a "genocidal policy" and accused the U.S. government of having "the intention to suffocate the entire nation."

He added that the U.S. blockade has been "perpetrated against our people for more than 60 years," noting in particular that "this extension comes at the harshest time in the U.S. offensive against Cuba in recent years."

U.S. sanctions against Cuba began in 1960.

This came as Washington responded to the nationalization of U.S. corporate assets following the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Subsequently, as Cuba rapidly grew closer to the Soviet Union, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy invoked the Trading with the Enemy Act in 1962, which allows for the restriction of trade with hostile nations, formalizing comprehensive trade sanctions against Cuba.

The U.S. government has extended the validity of this provision every year since 1978.

While the latest extension of the embargo on Cuba announced by the Donald Trump administration on the 25th is also a routine annual procedure, the weight Cuba feels this year is different from previous years.

This is because various regulations have continuously tightened, and the supply of essential resources from outside, such as crude oil, has effectively been completely cut off.

Cuba had previously received crude oil support from neighboring left-leaning countries such as Venezuela and Mexico, but due to tightened U.S. maritime blockades following changes in the situation in Venezuela, including the ouster of President Nicolás Maduro this January, external crude oil supplies have practically dried up.

The arrival of a Russian tanker carrying approximately 730,000 barrels (100,000 tons) of crude oil at the port of Havana in late March was virtually the only external support.

As the energy crisis driven by crude oil shortages reaches its peak, Cuban residents are experiencing routine blackouts and suffering from chronic shortages of food and medicine.

Juan Licea (68), a retiree, told AFP in an interview, "We are struggling to survive. We often lack money, but even so, we have to keep going with our lives."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.