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Cuba's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos R. Fernández de Cossío, described the government of Donald Trump as "criminal" on Wednesday, accusing it of carrying out a plan to induce a humanitarian crisis in Cuba.
In a post on social media, Fernández de Cossío asked: "What is, if not criminal, a government that executes a coldly calculated plan to induce a humanitarian crisis in an entire nation; a crisis that will cause and is causing harm to children, the elderly, women, people with disabilities, and all segments of the population, without exception?"
The official demanded that "the U.S. government must bear responsibility for the crime it commits against Cuba in plain sight of everyone."
The statement is part of a diplomatic and rhetorical offensive by the regime that intensified this week when Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla addressed the United Nations Security Council last Tuesday and met with Secretary-General António Guterres to request his intervention in order to stop what he described as a "military aggression by the U.S. against Cuba."
Rodríguez requested the UN Secretary to help stop a military action that, he warned, "would lead to a bloodbath," resulting in the deaths of Cubans and American youth.
Díaz-Canel celebrated Rodríguez's speech at the UN, stating on X that the chancellor "has brought the dignified and sovereign voice of Cuba to the Security Council."
The context of these statements is the largest escalation of tension between Washington and Havana in decades.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has accumulated over 240 sanctions against Cuba, including secondary measures against foreign companies and banks that operate with Cuban entities.
These sanctions are estimated to have reduced the island's energy imports by 80% to 90%, resulting in blackouts lasting up to 25 hours a day in much of the national territory.
On May 20th, the U.S. Department of Justice declassified a federal indictment against Raúl Castro and five Cuban military officials for the shooting down of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
Rodríguez rejected that accusation before Guterres, calling it an "infamous, fraudulent, and illegal charge," and in an interview with Fox News, he lashed out at Secretary of State Marco Rubio: "I've heard him lie over and over about this issue."
On April 28th, the U.S. Senate rejected a resolution by a vote of 51-47, proposed by Senators Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff, and Ruben Gallego, aimed at limiting Trump's ability to take military action against Cuba without Congressional approval; Republicans, led by Senator Rick Scott, blocked the measure.
Independent analysts point out that, while the sanctions exacerbate the situation, the collapse of the healthcare system and the Cuban economy is also the result of decades of mismanagement by the dictatorship, a factor that the regime systematically omits in its narrative to international forums.
Despite the rhetorical escalation, Rodríguez reiterated to Guterres Cuba's willingness to continue bilateral discussions with the U.S. "without interference in our internal affairs, political system, or elections."
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