Former CARICOM Leaders Condemn US Action Against Cuba Deemed Economic Warfare

2026-02-20 - 13:55

We who have previously served as Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community are perturbed at the deepening humanitarian crisis in Cuba and are impelled to make public this appeal to avert further human destruction. The Executive Order of January 29, 2026, by the United States of America against any nation providing oil to Cuba, without the imposition of punitive and discriminatory tariffs, constitutes economic warfare and inflicts unconscionable suffering upon the Cuban people. The universal principle of dialogue to resolve conflicts and disputes cannot be abandoned on the altar of powerful nations waging political vendettas against smaller states through economic warfare. The consequences of this horrific fuel blockade are catastrophic and constitute cruel punishment of the 11 million civilians through the strangulation of Cuba’s vital requirements for energy, food, medication, education, and basic livelihood. On December 8, 1972, the Prime Ministers of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago made the bold decision to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba in assertion of our sovereign right to end the hemispheric economic isolation of a neighbouring Caribbean state. For over five decades, Cuba has stood in solidarity with the Caribbean through medical brigades, educational scholarships, sports cooperation, and disaster relief — freely given assistance in times of our greatest need and devoid of any request for reciprocal support. We, during our tenure over the last 33 years, have been inspired and imbued by the courage and foresight of our predecessors to consistently sponsor and support resolutions at the United Nations General Assembly calling for the termination of the illegal financial and economic embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. That abhorrent embargo has been condemned by an overwhelming majority of Member States, including four permanent members of the Security Council. The global community cannot remain mute and indolent while a fatal and pernicious fuel tourniquet stifles the Cuban economy and suffocates human lives. We advocate the immediate repeal of any decree that will result in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Cuba and undermine the tenets of international law. The foundation of the Caribbean Community rests on the right of each sovereign state to promote regional solidarity and advance comprehensive cooperation among all Caribbean states. The CARICOM tradition of solidarity, and the exercise of the right to pursue beneficial programmes within our regional geographic space, have proven invaluable and worthy of perpetuation. We believe that Caribbean citizens will support any decision by our leaders to render tangible material support to our brothers and sisters in Cuba at this time of need. We dare not depart from this path and must now fulfil our sacred duty to appeal for the exercise of our shared humanity in responding to the terror of economic warfare against the Cuban people. We will never accept the doctrine that might makes right. Economic warfare waged over differences of ideology and political systems is no less odious than military invasion anywhere for territorial aggrandisement. In endorsing the findings of United Nations Human Rights experts that this coercive Executive Order violates international law, we urge the Government of the United States to rescind this inhumane measure. We call upon the international community to provide Cuba with desperately needed humanitarian assistance. We stand with the people of Cuba. We stand as a Zone of Peace. We stand for a shared Caribbean future.