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The Colombian president Gustavo Petro described the U.S. embargo against Cuba as "genocide" and accused Washington of starving the Cuban people to death.
"The blockade is genocide, it's starving a people to death, and that should be erased from the history of humanity," said Petro this Friday in an interview on the program "Los Desayunos" of RTVE and EFE, held in Barcelona as part of a global summit of progressive leaders.
The president also referred to Donald Trump's threats to take Cuba by force, pointing out that the United States "plans to attack with missiles, impose itself" on the island, and that "they shouldn't do it."
In response to the question of what Washington should do with Cuba, Petro was succinct: "What should be done with Cuba? Talk".
The Colombian president distinguished the Cuban situation from the Venezuelan one, arguing that Cuba "experienced a deep, genuine revolution," something that, in his view, the United States does not understand.
"Cuba is different from Venezuela," he insisted, adding that the island needs "dialogue and also democracy, but a popular democracy, not the one that Washington believes it is."
Petro acknowledged, however, that the Cuban revolution also bears responsibility for its own failure due to what he termed "Sovietism."
"They are mistaken in their understanding of Sovietism, that is, in thinking that socialism is the state ownership of the means of production. Marx never said that; he said they should be social and not state-owned. Therein lies a conflict," said Petro.
This is not the first time Petro has used such language regarding the embargo. Last February, the president admitted that Colombia loaded fuel on the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, intercepted by the United States Coast Guard near Cuba with 84,579 barrels of Colombian fuel oil. He also described the embargo at that time as "genocide and extortion."
The relationship between Petro and Washington has been tense since October 2025, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury for alleged links to drug trafficking.
The progressive summit in Barcelona, where Petro made these statements, brings together leftist leaders from Latin America and Europe under the theme "global progressive mobilization," with the participation of the presidents of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi.
Trump, for his part, has maintained an ambiguous stance on Cuba. On February 27, he spoke about a possible "friendly takeover" of the island, arguing that "they have no money, they have no oil, they have no food". In March, he explicitly ruled out military actions, but in April he revisited the idea of ending the dictatorship.
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