Cuba has said that US President Donald Trump’s fresh sanctions on the island amounted to “collective punishment”, as a procession outside the American embassy in Havana vowed to “defend the homeland”.
In an executive order on Friday, the US leader said he would impose sanctions on people involved in sweeping sectors of the Cuban economy that the government controls.
The latest sanctions constitute “collective punishment” of the nation’s people, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said.
“We firmly reject the recent unilateral coercive measures adopted by the United States government,” he posted on X.
“These actions demonstrate an intention to impose, once again, collective punishment on the Cuban people.”
In a Spanish-language statement, he called the sanctions “illegal” and “abusive”.
Trump’s order said the measures target people known to “operate in or have operated in the energy, defence and related materiel, metals and mining, financial services, or security sector of the Cuban economy, or any other sector of the Cuban economy”, as well as Cuban officials judged to have engaged in “serious human rights abuses” or corruption.
Already in the throes of economic stagnation, the situation worsened for Cuba following a fuel blockade imposed by Washington in January, with only one Russian oil tanker making it through since then.
Supply shortages and power cuts have become the norm, and tourism, once Cuba’s most lucrative industry, has plummeted.
