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The Deputy Secretary of State of United States, Christopher Landau, demanded on Tuesday at the 56th General Assembly of the OAS in Panama City that the Cuban regime implement economic and political reforms immediately, while labeling it a collapsing state that "has no other option."
In his address to the OAS plenary session, Landau was emphatic: "Cuba is a failed state, allied with our adversaries, just 90 miles from the United States, with a long history of undermining democratic institutions and fostering civil unrest throughout our hemisphere."
The official was even more direct when referring to the future of the dictatorship: "The authoritarian and communist regime of Havana, which has been in power without elections for 67 years, is collapsing and must enact immediate economic and political reforms. It has no other option."
Landau extended the demand to Nicaragua and warned that "there should be no tolerance for totalitarian regimes in our hemisphere."
The statement comes days after the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power approved a package of 176 economic measures —including private banking, partial dollarization, and opening up to foreign investment— which Washington dismissed as “superficial smoke signals”, considering that they do not introduce real political changes.
On the same Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions against five Cuban entities linked to the military conglomerate GAESA —including the Banco Financiero Internacional and Almacenes Universales S.A.— as well as against Annalie Lilliam Rueda Cardero, the wife of Alejandro Castro Espín. Rubio warned that "foreign banks and other companies providing services to these entities must immediately freeze those activities."
In parallel to Landau's speech, the OAS approved a declaration by consensus that urges the restoration of democracy in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and demands the release of all political prisoners.
In the dialogue space with civil society, activists Carolina Barrero and José Daniel Ferrer took their complaint to the OAS and rejected the regime's measures. Barrero stated that "the only path to a free Cuba is through civil and political liberties" and referred to the package of reforms as "a theater of illusions." Ferrer, for his part, urged the governments of the continent to demand an end to repression: "The tragedy that the Cuban people are experiencing must come to an end."
The new sanctions are part of the Executive Order 14404 signed by Trump on May 1, 2026, which authorizes secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that operate with the regime. Since January of this year, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against Cuba as part of its maximum pressure strategy.
The economic crisis facing the island worsens the situation: daily blackouts lasting up to 10 hours, a critical shortage of food and medicine, and an estimated GDP contraction of 11% over the past five years form the backdrop against which Washington issues its most forceful ultimatum to date.
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