Cuban Regime Blames U.S. for Economic Woes, Refuses Engagement Amid Record Loss Claims
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Cuba's foreign minister blamed the U.S. embargo for $8 billion in losses and rejected talks, as the communist government faces mounting internal failures.
Cuba’s foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez told reporters on Monday that his regime is refusing to negotiate or even set an agenda for talks with the United States, continuing its long-standing pattern of blaming Washington for Cuba’s economic failures. Rodríguez claimed that the U.S. embargo has cost the Cuban economy $8 billion between March 2025 and February 2026—a supposed 7 percent increase over the previous period and the highest figure yet cited by the communist government. This estimate notably excludes recent U.S. sanctions targeting Cuba’s energy sector and secondary sanctions imposed earlier this year, which are aimed at pressuring the regime to respect basic freedoms.
Rodríguez characterized the embargo as “economic asphyxiation” and, in a post on X, went so far as to call it “genocidal,” blaming the U.S. for the island’s chronic electricity shortages. He claimed that these shortages leave households with only two or three hours of power per day, resulting in food spoilage, lack of cooling for infants, students forced to study in the dark, and restricted internet access—ignoring the Cuban government’s own mismanagement and failed socialist policies that have crippled the country’s infrastructure.
He accused the United States of “collective punishment,” an “energy siege,” and “extreme tightening of the blockade,” while failing to acknowledge Havana’s own responsibility for the suffering of its people. Rodríguez noted that diplomatic contacts between the two governments earlier this year have ceased, and that the Cuban regime will now take its grievances to the United Nations, where the General Assembly will again consider its annual resolution calling for an end to the embargo on Oct. 27-28. He alleged that Washington is exerting “extraordinary pressure and intimidation” on other member states, while expressing confidence in overwhelming support for Cuba—a familiar refrain from a regime seeking to deflect blame for its own failures.