The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba (MINREX) accused the government of the United States on Thursday of deliberately seeking to provoke an internal uprising on the island to overthrow the Revolution, in response to the new sanctions from the Department of the Treasury against GAESA and Moa Nickel S.A.
The position was articulated by Ariadna Cornelio Hitchman, Legal Affairs Coordinator of the U.S. Directorate at MINREX, during the Mesa Redonda program, where she analyzed the Executive Order 14404 signed by Trump on May 1.
"The purpose of the executive order is to widen the spectrum as much as possible and ensure that this pressure is as effective as possible," stated Cornelio Hitchman.
The official stated that the measure could affect not only legal entities and institutions but also the members of their boards of directors, in order to broaden the intimidating effect.
"The aim of the executive order is to undermine the lives of the Cuban people, to deteriorate the Cuban economy," he said, adding that the ultimate goal is "to drive the Cuban people and the Cuban economy into a state that fosters the collapse of the revolution through internal turmoil."
A central point of the MINREX analysis was the inclusion in the executive order of restrictions on donations to Cuba.
Cornelio argued that this provision dismantles what he termed the "fallacy" of the American discourse: in recent months, donations from individuals in the U.S. and other countries had allowed medical supplies for children, cancer patients, and other patients to reach the island, which could not be obtained due to the restrictions of the embargo.
"The United States government is not concerned about the well-being of the Cuban people. It does not care about the Cuban people," stated the regime official.
The MINREX also warned in its official statement that Washington seeks to "create a humanitarian crisis scenario to justify more dangerous actions, including military aggression against Cuba."
The Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío added his voice to the official response with a post on X, where he stated that U.S. intelligence agencies have "ample evidence" that Cuba does not pose a threat to that country, rejecting the national security narrative that Washington uses to justify the sanctions.
What the regime overlooks in its rhetoric is that the crisis faced by the Cuban people did not begin with Trump's sanctions.
A survey revealing that one in three families is experiencing hunger in Cuba showed that 33.9% of households reported hunger in 2025, prior to the signing of the executive order in May 2026, reflecting an increase of 9.3 points compared to 2024.
Deaths due to malnutrition increased by 74% between 2022 and 2023, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information of Cuba, and 80% of Cubans believe the current crisis is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s.
On the U.S. side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described GAESA as "the heart of Cuba's kleptocratic communist system" and warned that further designations can be expected in the coming days, as part of a campaign that has accumulated over 240 restrictive measures against the regime since January 2025.
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