Cuban FM accuses US of trying to create ‘humanitarian catastrophe’

GENEVA: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday accused the United States of trying to trigger a “humanitarian catastrophe” in his country with an oil blockade he called an “aggressive escalation”.

US President Donald Trump cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro, and has threatened sanctions on states that sell oil to Havana.

The United States “now imposes an energy blockade and intends to create a humanitarian catastrophe, using as a pretext the absurd assertion that Cuba constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to its national security,” Rodriguez told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Cuba, under a US trade embargo since 1962, has for years battled extended power cuts and shortages of fuel, medicine and food, even before the Caribbean country of 9.6 million people lost its main oil supplier last month.

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“These are criminal and illegal actions, constituting a ruthless collective punishment of the Cuban people,” said Rodriguez.

At the end of January, Trump described the Cuban government as an “extraordinary threat” to US national security.

“Cuba does not threaten the United States or any other country,” insisted Rodriguez.

“It is not Cuba that applies Monroe Doctrine national security and national defence strategies with the open purpose of domination, nor is it the country that deploys military forces and violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states.”

Trump described the raid to seize Maduro as an update of the Monroe Doctrine – the 1823 declaration by US president James Monroe that Latin America was closed to other powers.

“Remaining impassive in the face of these attempts to impose a global tyranny puts all states at risk without exception,” said Rodriguez.

“Cuba does not attack anyone, but will firmly defend its sovereignty and independence,” he added.

Speaking later at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Rodriguez said Cuba would prevent a humanitarian crisis, “although we will have to endure deprivation and hardships”.

On February 13, the UN human rights office said it was “extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis”.

Last week, Trump said Cuba had become “a failed nation” and called for Havana to make a deal with the United States.