Some say memory is short, that cynicism is a diplomatic skill, regardless of whether it's applied from the UN podium, the Secretary of State's office, or even the White House.
In this particular case, they displayed both in abundance. On Monday, July 13th, the Donald Trump administration announced a new package of "sanctions" against ten Cuban entities, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Foreign Trade Business Group (Gecomex), the Maritime Port Transport Business Group (Gemar), the energy companies Enetec and Coreydan, and also –of course– the Territorial Troops Militias, and the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution.
Following standard procedure, the State Department, in its statement, calls them "instruments of repression" and asserts that it is all part of a "comprehensive initiative" to "end the malign activities of the Cuban regime" and "change its behavior."
But just days earlier, on the stage of the UN General Assembly, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz had solemnly declared: "There is no U.S. embargo." He then added, lest there be any doubt about his rhetorical genius: "The only embargo on Cuba is the guillotine the regime holds over the heads of its people."
But Mr. Ambassador: if there is no blockade, what are these "sanctions" that your own government recently announced? An act of brotherly love? A gesture of international solidarity?
Because, let's be honest, it's hardly serious to declare on the podium that there's no economic blockade and then, the very next day, have the Treasury Department publish a new list of "sanctioned" entities.
But let's take it one step at a time, because this is a complex issue. The same administration that is now "sanctioning" the People's Militias and fuel companies is the same one that, since January, has imposed an oil embargo that has left more than nine million Cubans without power—not just once, but every single day.
It's the same administration that has driven away foreign companies, threatened supplier countries, and exacerbated the energy crisis to levels not even seen during the worst of the Special Period.
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and Cuban Foreign Minister, stated it at the UN with the clarity that reason and dignity provide: between March 2025 and February 2026, the damages caused by the blockade amounted to more than $8 billion, a historic record.
Then one wonders: if they are truly concerned about Cubans, why are they denying them fuel, food, and medicine? No, the guillotine is not held by the Cuban government over its citizens; it is manufactured in Washington, piece by piece, sanction by sanction, decree by decree, and brought down upon a people whose only sin has been refusing to relinquish their freedom.
No, this is not an imaginary siege; it is a crime against humanity, and the international community knows it: 136 votes at the UN—against a mere nine—in favor of Cuba's request to open a debate on the blockade. But of course, for Washington, majorities don't count when they are not in their favor.
They do this knowing that the world rejects it, that it is illegal under international law, and that it violates the most basic principles of the UN Charter.
Thus, when the world points out the inconsistency, they repeat their usual script: "Cuba is a threat; there are Chinese and Russian spy bases," something even the Pentagon has denied.
