In brief
At the 30th Ibero‑American Summit in Madrid, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced the United States for expanding sanctions, including what he described as an energy blockade. He called for Ibero‑American action to counter what he deems collective punishment, while noting the impact on Cuban trade and commerce in the past ten months.
Cuban officials sounded the alarm at the 30th Ibero‑American Summit in Madrid, Spain, on November 4‑5, 2026, denouncing the United States for stepping up sanctions against the island.
The address, delivered by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, was announced on social media by President Miguel Díaz‑Canel and was framed within the broader context of an intensified U.S. trade embargo.
Rodríguez described the sanctions as an “energy blockade” and referred to the U.S. measures as “infinite levels of collective punishment,” emphasizing that the embargo now also targets individuals and companies that wish to trade with Cuba.
“The United States has pushed its obsessive war of economic strangulation against Cuba to inhumane levels of collective punishment,”
Rodríguez noted that the island has faced an unprecedented tightening of the U.S. trade embargo over the past ten months, underscoring the sustained pressure from the U.S. government.
He stressed the importance of advancing joint projects and sharing knowledge among Ibero‑American nations, insisting that collective cooperation could counter the arbitrary sanctions and protect the region’s sovereignty.
The Foreign Minister’s speech reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to the principles of equality, autonomy, and mutual respect that guide Ibero‑American cooperation, and called for actions aligned with those founding principles.
Rodríguez also acknowledged that Honduras was serving as the bloc’s pro tempore secretariat, suggesting that the current government would steer the community’s response to U.S. policies.
