Cuba's FM accuses U.S. of 'maximum pressure' policy to destabilize island

Cuba's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, has strongly condemned the United States' ongoing "maximum pressure" policy, asserting that it deliberately targets the island's capacity to provide basic goods and services. He claims the U.S. aims to incite social unrest and alter Cuba's constitutional order by crippling its primary sources of external income.

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Identify and attack without mercy the main sources of external income of the Cuban economy, and thus provoke irritation in the population, social outbreak and a change of the constitutional order.

Rodríguez detailed how U.S. Treasury Department agencies, particularly the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), have imposed "24 fines on financial, travel, technology, and logistics entities in third countries totaling more than $4.014 billion" for alleged violations of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. He characterized these sanctions as an extension of measures initiated during the Trump administration.

Specific measures include the prohibition for Fincimex and American International Services (AIS) to process remittances since September 2020. Additionally, the International Financial Bank has faced sanctions since January 2021, and other financial institutions allegedly operating under the military's Gaesa conglomerate have been targeted. Cuba's re-inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2021 and 2025 further exacerbates the situation.

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24 fines on financial, travel, technology, and logistics entities in third countries totaling more than $4.014 billion for alleged violations of the blockade against Cuba.

These U.S. actions are occurring amidst a severe internal crisis in Cuba, marked by energy shortages, a significant economic contraction, and widespread social discontent. The intensified pressure has led to rolling blackouts, crippling public transportation, minimal hospital services, and paralyzed industries. Prices for essential goods, especially food and medicine, have surged in informal markets, fueling public frustration expressed through protests.

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The reinclusions of Cuba in the spurious list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism in 2021 and 2025.