JAKARTA - Cuba has strongly condemned new sanctions and restrictions imposed by the US, accusing Washington of raising the economic blockade against Cuba to an "extreme and unprecedented" level.
"The government rejects the executive order signed by the White House on May 1 that tightened economic, financial, and commercial restrictions on Cuba," the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
They also criticized the decision announced Thursday (7/5) by the US Department of the Treasury, which added the Cuban entities Gaesa and MoaNickel SA to the US sanctions list for Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs).
The ministry described the move as the "first coercive action" stemming from the executive order.
"This is a cruel act of economic aggression that strengthens the extraterritorial effect of the blockade, with the potential for the application of secondary sanctions against foreign companies, banks and entities, even if their business in the United States has no connection with Cuba," he said, quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Friday, May 8.
According to the statement, the new measures threaten to deepen the Cuban economic crisis, which has worsened due to restrictions on fuel imports imposed earlier this year.
Cuba also accused senior US officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, of trying to isolate the country internationally.
The statement described the US embargo as "genocide against the Cuban people" and claimed the latest measures were intended to trigger an economic collapse, social unrest, and a humanitarian crisis.
"We condemn the criminal nature of this aggressive action, which aims to starve and despair the Cuban population and seeks to create a social, economic, and political disaster on a national scale," the ministry said.
Cuba further accused Washington of being able to use the humanitarian crisis as a justification for "more dangerous actions, including military aggression against Cuba."
Cuba is facing a fuel crisis following the US oil embargo imposed on January 30, along with widespread power outages.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Cuba is the "next target" after military operations against Iran and the Caribbean island would "soon" fail.
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