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Cuba denounces US "collective punishment" at the Ibero-American Summit

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez spoke in Madrid of an "energy siege equivalent to a naval blockade" and acknowledged that a growing number of governments in the region abstained or voted against Cuba's resolution at the UN.

Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, told the plenary session of the XXX Ibero-American Summit in Madrid on Thursday that the United States "has taken its obsessive war of economic asphyxiation against Cuba to inhuman limits of collective punishment". The plenary, chaired by King Felipe VI of Spain, brought together heads of state and government and senior representatives of the Ibero-American Community's member countries.

Rodríguez said the White House has imposed "an energy siege equivalent to a naval blockade" and is applying "secondary sanctions on individuals or entities that establish commercial relations with Cuba". He called on the Ibero-American Community to act "without interference, exclusions or outside pressure".

Cuba's resolution against the embargo drew 130 votes in favour, 17 against and 25 abstentions at the UN General Assembly. Among the countries present at the Madrid summit, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay voted against, with abstentions from Chile, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Peru.

The minister himself noted that, unlike in the past, the closeness of several of the region's leaders to Donald Trump's administration has led a growing number of governments to abstain or vote against the text.

In an interview with The New York Times reproduced by Cubadebate, Rodríguez confirmed that talks with the United States "continue, though without major results", and described the fuel blockade as "a naval blockade, which is an act of war". He said Havana remains willing to negotiate on the basis of international law, sovereign equality and non-interference, and that 22 bilateral cooperation agreements remain in force, including those on law enforcement, counter-narcotics and migration.

Asked about the US demand for political change on the island, he replied: "Imagine the Cuban government said that in order to talk with the United States there had to be political change in the United States." He added that his government has "concerns" about the US political system and does not share that model of democracy, but that the issue "need not be an obstacle" to settling bilateral matters.

Sources: Cubadebate · Europa Press · Cubadebate

Data updated: 2026-11-05T16:15:00.000Z

Cuba denounces US "collective punishment" at the Ibero-American Summit | Yamacoa Observatory