Cuba: US Embargo Causes $5 Billion per Year in Damage

The embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba has cost the Caribbean country at least $5 billion in one year.

This was explained by Havana’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, referring to the time period from March 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024. Over the same period, the minister said the country’s GDP could have grown by 8% in 2023, hence the definition of US sanctions as “a brutal punitive policy, a crime against humanity, an act of genocide.”

Cuba is struggling with an unprecedented economic, financial, and social crisis due to a shortage of basic necessities, such as bread, milk, and fuel. There are also drug shortages and power outages.

On December 2, 2023, the United Nations General Assembly renewed a 31-year resolution calling for an end to the current economic and trade embargo that has been in place for six decades, with 187 votes in favor, the USA and Israel voting against, and Ukraine abstaining. On the occasion, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the embargo “violates the right to life, health, education, and well-being of all Cubans.”