Miguel Díaz-Canel took two days to publicly respond to the sanctions announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.
In a thread of two posts on X this Saturday, the Cuban leader rejected the measures and promised resistance.
"The U.S. is once again targeting the people of Cuba with new coercive measures against Cuban companies, vessels, and foreign companies responsible for providing essential services and goods for our economic and social development," he said.
In the second part of the thread, Díaz-Canel described the sanctions as "part of the same design of economic suffocation and collective punishment to subjugate an entire nation, with false and absurd justifications that neither the world nor the citizens of the U.S. believe," and concluded with the phrase "They will not bend us!".
The measures to which the Cuban leader responded were announced by Rubio on November 5 and constitute the broadest sanctions in international scope since the Trump Administration signed Executive Order 14404 on May 1, 2026.
The package designated eight entities and two individuals, and identified five vessels as blocked property: Esperanza, Gloria C, Maria Cristina, Emilia, and Lourdes.
Among those sanctioned are Guillermo Faustino Rodríguez López-Calleja, brother of the late former head of GAESA, accused of his alleged involvement in a maritime oil transport network, and Any Rodríguez Lastres, daughter of the president of GAESA, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.
The package included two Chinese companies sanctioned for supplying military equipment to Cuba: China National Electronic Import and Export Company (CEIEC) and Beijing H&C Technologies Co., Ltd., accused of operating through the intermediary Duna S.A.
On Thursday, while announcing the measures, Rubio stated: "The ruling elite of Cuba hoards the island's energy, maritime, and technological resources for their own enrichment, leaving the Cuban people to deal with blackouts, shortages, and a stagnant economy."
Díaz-Canel's speech closely mirrors the narrative that Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla had already laid out days earlier at the XXX Ibero-American Summit held in Madrid, where he denounced an economic suffocation war and an "energy siege" comparable to a naval blockade.
China, for its part, formally rejected the sanctions on Friday through its spokesperson Guo Jiakun, who warned that Beijing would adopt "all necessary measures" to protect the interests of its companies.
Since May 2026, the Trump Administration has carried out several rounds of sanctions against the Cuban regime, which have targeted GAESA, the Mariel Container Terminal, Tecnoimport, Tecnotex, and now maritime oil networks and technology suppliers with ties to China.
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