In an interview with the newspaper Domani, the Cuban diplomat asserted that “not even during the Cold War did the United States impose such a severe siege as the one we are experiencing now” in Cuba, whose population “is a direct victim of economic strangulation and aggression, with an oil boycott and the extreme tightening of the blockade.”

Regarding the Holy See’s pronouncements on this issue, the ambassador recalled that in 1998, Pope John Paul II described these “economic restrictive measures imposed from outside the country” as “ethically unacceptable,” and years later, Benedict XVI and Francis expressed similar sentiments, a position that remains today.

The current blockade is “a cruel and indiscriminate collective punishment that causes numerous deaths,” the ambassador stated, citing as examples of its grave effects the doubling of the infant mortality rate, from 4.0 to 9.9 per 1,000 live births, and the reduction in the life expectancy of children with cancer, from 85 to 65 percent.

Furthermore, the Cuban people suffer from shortages of medicine, obstacles to the energy supply that cause prolonged blackouts, transportation difficulties, and restrictions on access to international markets, all part of the ongoing attempts at economic strangulation.

Cuba needs eight fuel shipments per month to sustain its economy and electricity generation, but as a result of unilateral coercive measures by the United States, only one shipment has arrived since December 8, 2025, he noted.

In this regard, he recalled that the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on January 29, 2026, authorizes the imposition of punitive tariffs on imports from countries that may supply Cuba with oil, directly or indirectly.

“We are not naive pacifists, but neither are we warmongers: we demand dialogue between equals and respect for our sovereignty,” added the Cuban ambassador to the Vatican.

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