KUALA LUMPUR: Today’s onslaught against Cuba could be tomorrow’s attack on any country, particularly in the Global South, where strategic resources or geopolitical interests are subject to imperial domination, said Cuban Ambassador to Malaysia, Yadira Ledesma Hernández.
Ledesma said that the United States’ (US) aggression against Cuba was multidimensional, ranging from economic and energy pressure to systematic threats of military action, provocation and diplomatic pressure.
She said the Global South must decide whether to accept what has been described as the new normal and remain silent in the face of injustice and flagrant violations of international law, or raise its voice and take concerted action to denounce such actions, defend peace and offer international solidarity.
“Since 1962, they have maintained a blockade that has become the most unfair, severe and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions ever applied against an entire nation,” she said in a statement.
Ledesma said the economic, commercial and financial blockade had caused Cuba losses exceeding USD7 billion in the last year, while cumulative damage from the implementation of the policy over more than six decades amounted to USD170.677 billion, citing a February 2025 report to the United Nations (UN).
She said Washington’s maximum pressure policy had negatively affected key indicators in Cuba, including infant mortality, child cancer survival rates and access to surgery.
According to Ledesma, infant mortality, previously reported at 4.0 deaths per 1,000 live births, had risen to 9.9, while the survival rate for children with cancer had fallen from 85 per cent to 65 per cent.
She said there was now a waiting list of 100,000 patients awaiting surgery, including 12,000 children.
“These figures demonstrate that the collective punishment being perpetrated against Cuba qualifies as an act of genocide,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ledesma said Cuba had been suffering a “true oil blockade” and had received only one shipment of oil from Russia over the past six months.
“No state in the world could sustain such an energy embargo without facing serious economic and social disruptions,” she said.
US President, Donald Trump, issued an executive order on January 29 under which tariffs may be imposed on goods imported into the US from countries that directly or indirectly sell or otherwise provide oil to Cuba.
Ledesma said the current situation had once again pushed Cuba towards resilience, innovation and the application of science.
She said Cuban crude oil had recently been successfully refined using a new methodology currently in the testing phase, while the country had also accelerated the installation of large solar parks to generate photovoltaic energy.
“These are also lessons for nations of the Global South,” she said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Monday called for the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed by the US against Cuba, warning that their expansion was causing widespread harm to the population and endangering lives.
“The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable. Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines. This is unacceptable,” said Turk.
He said the US declaration of a national emergency in January disrupted fuel shipments to Cuba, severely reducing the country’s fuel reserves by mid-May, and this depletion has led to daily blackouts that now frequently exceed 20 hours. – BERNAMA
