Cuba has confirmed that it is not currently engaging in negotiations with the United States, as the Trump administration intensifies its economic pressure on the island nation. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated on Monday that there is no agenda for future talks between Havana and Washington.
Speaking during a media conference, Rodríguez presented Cuba’s latest assessment of the damage inflicted by the decades-old US embargo, which was imposed following Fidel Castro’s communist revolution in 1959. The Cuban government estimates the embargo cost its economy $8 billion between March 2025 and February 2026, marking the highest figure recorded and a seven percent increase from the previous reporting period.
Rodríguez noted that this total does not account for recent US measures, including energy supply restrictions imposed in January and secondary sanctions introduced in May. On social media platform X, he characterized the policy as a form of “economic asphyxiation” and labeled the blockade “genocidal,” blaming it for severe shortages and economic hardship.
The foreign minister painted a grim picture of daily life in Cuba, citing prolonged power outages that limit electricity to just two or three hours per day. He described scenes of food spoiling without refrigeration, parents fanning infants in the heat, children studying in darkness, and young people lacking internet access.
“All family life [is] damaged,” Rodríguez said, asserting that while Cuba poses no threat, the blockade itself is dangerous. He referred to the situation as “collective punishment” resulting from an “energy siege” and an “extreme tightening of the blockade.”
Tensions between the two nations have escalated under President Donald Trump, despite earlier talks held this year, which have since ceased. The diplomatic dispute is set to return to the United Nations, where the General Assembly will vote on an annual resolution calling for an end to the US embargo on October 27 and 28.
Rodríguez accused Washington of exerting “extraordinary pressure and intimidation” on other UN member states ahead of the vote but expressed confidence that the resolution would still receive “overwhelming support.”
Interesting that talks collapsed under Trump despite earlier progress. What exactly derailed those diplomatic efforts?
Hope the UN vote yields actual results this time, not just another symbolic resolution that changes nothing on the ground.
Genocidal is a strong word for an economic embargo. Seems like hyperbole designed for international headlines.
Is $8 billion really the real cost, or just political rhetoric to rally domestic support for the government?
The energy crisis sounds unbearable. My family still struggles with just two hours of power daily here.