What changed

B100289/2026

P10_TA(2026)0229

European Parliament resolution on the politicalPolitical repression and humanitarian situation in Cuba

(2026/2735(RSP))

PE783.341

The European Parliament,

European Parliament resolution of 18 June 2026 on the political repression and humanitarian situation in Cuba (2026/2735(RSP))

– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and other international human rights treaties and instruments,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Cuba, in particular those of 19 September 2024 on the case of José Daniel Ferrer García in Cuba, of 29 February 2024 on the critical situation in Cuba, and of 12 July 2023 on the state of the EU-Cuba PDCA in the light of the recent visit of the High Representative to the island,

– having regard to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, in particular Article 1 thereof,

– having regard to the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part, signed in December 2016, and which has provisionally applied since 1 November 2017, and in particular to the essential elements clause under Article 1(5) thereof and to the suspension clause under Article 85(3)(b) thereof,

– having regard to the Internationalconsent Covenantgiven by Parliament to the PDCA on Civil5 andJuly Political2017, Rightspremised ofon 16a Decembertangible 1966,improvement in human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba,

– having regard to the UN GuidingEU PrinciplesGlobal onHuman BusinessRights andSanctions HumanRegime Rights(EU ofMagnitsky 2011,Act),

– having regard to the principles laid down in the UN Charter,

– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to all of which Cuba is a party,

– having regard to the successive UN General Assembly resolutions calling for an end to the United States’ embargo against Cuba, adopted for the 33rd consecutive year in 2025,

– having regard to the reports of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Prisoners Defenders, in particular the May 2026 edition of its monthly report, published on 11 June 2026, covering torture, the structural violation of due process, ‘pre-criminal social dangerousness’, digital surveillance and forced malnutrition in Cuban prisons,

– having regard to the United States’ so-called Monroe Doctrine, which remains the heart of US diplomacy on the American continent and justifies its expansionism and interference,

– having regard to the joint hearing of its Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights on the situation in Cuba, held on 5 May 2026, and to the testimonies presented by the rapporteur for Cuba of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Stuardo Ralón Orellana, and by Cuban opposition leader and former political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer,

– having regard to the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part (the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement),

– having regard to the speeches by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) Kaja Kallas at Parliament’s plenary, in particular those of 6 May 2025 and 19 May 2026, and to the EU-Cuba Human Rights Dialogues,

– having regard to Rulethe 136(2)IACHR ofstatements itson RulesCuba of Procedure,25 March 2026,

A. whereas the United States’ embargo against Cuba, in place since 1962, has now lasted more than 64 years and represents one of the longest and most comprehensive unilateral sanctions regimes in modern history, inflicting cumulative economic damage estimated by the Cuban authorities at over USD 1.5 trillion;

– having regard to the Freedom Accord (Liberation Agreement) signed in Miami on 2 March 2026 by the Cuban opposition coalitions Pasos de Cambio and the Asamblea de la Resistencia Cubana (ARC),

B. whereas the US economic, trade and financial blockade on Cuba constitutes a violation of the human rights of the Cuban people that qualifies as an act of economic warfare hindering the development of the Cuban people and the full achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals;

– having regard to the report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of 12 June 2023 on the case of rights defenders Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero in Cuba,

C. whereas the UN General Assembly voted in 2025, for the 33rd consecutive year, in favour of a resolution calling for an end to the US embargo against Cuba, reflecting the near-universal consensus of the international community that the embargo is illegal and contrary to the principles of the UN Charter; whereas the EU and the vast majority of its Member States have consistently supported such resolutions;

– having regard to the indictment unsealed on 20 May 2026 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charging Raúl Castro and five other officials in connection with the shooting-down of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue organisation in 1996,

D. whereas on 29 January 2026, President Donald Trump issued new executive measures further tightening restrictions on Cuba’s access to fuel and financial transactions; whereas on 1 May 2026, the US administration announced secondary sanctions targeting non-US companies, including European entities, that trade or invest in Cuba, in direct violation of international law and sovereign European economic interests;

– having regard to Rules 136(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

E. whereas Executive Order 14404, signed by President Trump, has triggered a wave of forced withdrawals of European and other foreign companies from Cuba’s tourism sector, including the Spanish chains Meliá and Iberostar and the Canadian chain Blue Diamond; whereas these sanctions, explicitly extraterritorial in nature, are designed to eliminate foreign competition from Cuba’s strategic economic sectors; whereas simultaneously, the Canadian mining company Sherritt International, present in Cuba for 32 years, was forced to suspend operations at the Moa nickel and cobalt mine and entered into a preliminary agreement to sell a 55 % majority stake to Gillon Capital LLC, the family office of Ray Washburne, a major Trump fundraiser and former Trump-appointed head of the US development finance agency, with the explicit non-objection of the US State and Treasury Departments;

A. whereas more than five decades of political and economic choices by the Cuban communist regime have driven the country into a profound crisis, marked by blackouts of up to 22 hours a day, acute shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine and widespread poverty, under a constitutionally entrenched one-party regime that has lasted for more than 67 years, and in which it is the only permitted political force; whereas this collapse of a political and economic model built on immobility, repression and resistance to change, compounded by the absence of free, fair and competitive elections and the prohibition of political pluralism, brings Cuba increasingly close to the characteristics of a failed state and constitutes an anti-democratic anomaly in its region;

F. whereas the re-inclusion of Cuba on the United States’ list of State Sponsors of Terrorism is a politically motivated designation lacking credible justification, with severe extraterritorial consequences, including restrictions on access to the international banking system, obstacles to humanitarian and medical purchases and a further deterioration of living conditions for the Cuban population;

B. whereas, according to the NGO Prisoners Defenders, Cuba held a record 1 281 political prisoners at the end of May 2026, including minors – some held in maximum-security prisons alongside adults – with many detainees in serious ill health, among them athletes, artists, independent journalists and peaceful activists; whereas the organisation documents systematic torture, sexual violence and death threats against detainees, and found, in a statistically representative study, that every political prisoner examined, including minors, had suffered torture and been denied medical care, amid recurrent patterns of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, enforced temporary disappearance and harassment of families; whereas the case of José Daniel Ferrer, founder of the Patriotic Union of Cuba and a prisoner of conscience whose release Parliament has repeatedly demanded, is emblematic of the regime’s methods and resulted in his forced exile in October 2025;

G. whereas the EU has adopted specific instruments to counter the extraterritorial application of unilateral sanctions imposed by third countries, including in particular Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96 protecting against the effects of the extraterritorial application of legislation adopted by a third country, and whereas the EU must ensure that European operators are not forced to interrupt lawful trade and investment with Cuba as a result of such unlawful extraterritorial measures;

C. whereas, in their daily lives, ordinary Cubans face hospitals that are unable to function normally and without basic medicines and where patients must bring their own supplies, alongside chronic shortages of food and water and essential goods, sold only in foreign-currency stores beyond the reach of ordinary state wages; whereas, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, 89 % of families live in extreme poverty and 7 in 10 Cubans must skip meals, while the UN reports a backlog of over 96 000 pending surgeries, including 11 000 for children, and around 1 million people are dependent on water trucking that is constrained by diesel shortages;

H. whereas Cuba, despite enduring more than six decades of comprehensive economic blockade, has achieved remarkable results in human and social development, including near-universal literacy, one of the highest doctor-to-patient ratios in the world, a public health system capable of developing its own vaccines, significant advances in biotechnology and medical research, and a life expectancy comparable to that of far wealthier nations;

D. whereas, in April 2026, the EU released an additional EUR 2 million in humanitarian aid, in addition to the EUR 4 million already allocated this year for the Caribbean region, to support humanitarian partners delivering urgent relief to the most vulnerable; whereas the updated UN plan of action for Cuba, seeking to assist around two million people, remains severely underfunded, the UN having mobilised USD 26,2 million with a USD 68 million shortfall remaining;

I. whereas the comprehensive blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba bears the hallmarks of a medieval siege: a deliberate, systematic strategy of collective starvation and deprivation designed to break the will of an entire population through suffering; whereas the blocking of fuel, medicines, food, financial transactions and access to international trade, tightened relentlessly over six decades and escalated further in 2026, constitutes a form of organised cruelty directed not against a government but against millions of ordinary civilians, including children, elderly people and people with health problems; whereas such a strategy is not only illegal under international law but also morally indefensible and unworthy of any state that claims to uphold the values of democracy and human dignity, as well as those of a civilised society;

E. whereas cumulative inflation in Cuba over the past four years exceeds 500 %, while state salaries are worth between USD 15 and 25 a month at the black-market rate – the only realistic rate on the island; whereas the regime has made the country dependent on imported fuel, and as its traditional suppliers Russia and Venezuela have curtailed deliveries the energy emergency has deepened, culminating in the complete collapse of the national electricity system for several days in October 2024, leaving 11 million people without power;

J. whereas these measures have produced a total humanitarian blockade, causing acute fuel shortages, prolonged nationwide blackouts, with some areas reporting daily power cuts of up to 20 hours, disruptions to the water supply, transportation and food distribution, and serious impairment of hospital services across the island;

F. whereas Cuba today imports more than 70 % of the food it consumes – in a fertile tropical country that was once one of the world’s largest sugar producers – a collapse that is the direct result of decades of collectivised, state-controlled and militarised agriculture and of an unproductive economic model;

K. whereas nearly 96 000 patients are reportedly awaiting surgery due to reduced hospital capacity caused by fuel shortages; whereas power cuts disrupt hospital services, the refrigeration of medicines and vaccines, and the functioning of essential medical equipment; whereas approximately 170 containers of essential humanitarian relief goods, worth an estimated USD 6.3 million, have remained undistributed as a direct consequence of fuel shortages;

G. whereas the humanitarian emergency is not the product of any external embargo but the direct consequence of the regime’s own model and failures – the militarisation and state monopolisation of the economy, the suppression of private enterprise and the diversion of resources to the security apparatus rather than to the food, medicine and electricity its people need; whereas this model is embodied in the corrupt military conglomerate GAESA, which controls close to half of the island’s economy, is accountable to no one and captures the regime’s hard-currency earnings – including from the medical missions that the UN has likened to forced labour – even as hospitals are left without basic supplies; whereas this crisis cannot be separated from decades of state repression, and further instability risks graver humanitarian, migratory and security consequences;

L. whereas a 2025 study published in The Lancet Global Health estimates that unilateral coercive measures are associated with around 564 000 deaths annually worldwide, with children under five representing 51 % of these deaths; whereas these findings confirm the deadly humanitarian impact of the sanctions regime against Cuba;

H. whereas EU–Cuba relations are governed by the PDCA, whose stated objective was that the regime would progressively open up and improve the situation of its citizens; whereas, almost nine years after Parliament gave its consent to the PDCA, the regime has made no significant opening whatsoever but has instead intensified repression, persecuted dissent and increased the number of political prisoners, while the economic situation has deteriorated to unacceptable levels; whereas the agreement has failed in its core purpose and the VP/HR has acknowledged that the agreement has not met its objectives and is now under review;

M. whereas the Pan American Health Organization has warned of a heightened risk of resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and oropouche across the Caribbean region, a risk directly exacerbated by weakened public health infrastructure resulting from the blockade;

I. whereas rejection of the regime is widespread both on and off the island – evidenced by recurrent demonstrations and ‘pot-banging’ (cacerolazo) protests and by the largest exodus in Cuba’s history, with hundreds of thousands leaving in search of a better future – while many who fled or were forced out are not allowed to return and remain in exile; whereas the regime’s only response to demands for change is to entrench itself and intensify repression;

N. whereas electricity shortages and transport cuts resulting from the US embargo are disrupting education across Cuba, including by causing temporary school and university closures, with serious consequences for young people’s access to learning;

J. whereas brutal and relentless repression is the only mechanism keeping the regime alive; whereas, in July 2021, thousands took to the streets in more than fifty localities chanting ‘Freedom!’ – the largest wave of protests since 1994 – only to be crushed by plain-clothes police, paramilitary groups and the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution; whereas hundreds were arbitrarily detained and more than 700 people were tried in summary proceedings that Parliament condemned as a ‘judicial farce’ and given sentences of up to 25 years for protesting peacefully, which may amount to crimes against humanity; whereas the message was deliberately exemplary: whoever protests risks their job, their freedom, their family or their life;

O. whereas Cuba is not, and cannot be considered, a threat to the national security of the United States, as falsely claimed in the executive orders; whereas any threat or use of force against Cuba would constitute a serious violation of the UN Charter and the principle of sovereignty; whereas the growing militaristic rhetoric emanating from Washington, including discussions in US policy circles about the possibility of military escalation and regime change, raises serious and legitimate concerns;

K. whereas the regime persistently refuses entry to delegations of the European Parliament, to UN special rapporteurs and to independent monitors, and insists on excluding the democratic opposition and independent civil society from any political dialogue;

P. whereas US pressure, threats of sanctions and economic coercion against sovereign governments in Latin America, including Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, aimed at restricting fuel shipments, trade and economic cooperation with Cuba, constitute violations of the sovereignty of these countries and of their right to freely conduct trade and regional cooperation;

L. whereas talks have taken place in recent months between the regime and the United States administration, the content of which remains undisclosed, and the regime has acknowledged negotiations with Washington; whereas the United States has adopted targeted sanctions against senior figures of the regime and the institutions of its security and military apparatus, citing the regime’s repression at home and hostile activities abroad; whereas any process of normalisation must not come at the expense of human rights or relieve the regime of accountability;

Q. whereas the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, provisionally applied since 2017, constitutes the cornerstone of the EU’s constructive engagement policy and the appropriate framework for dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect; whereas attempts to undermine this agreement through external pressure, unilateral sanctions or policies of isolation must be firmly rejected;

M. whereas the regime maintains close military cooperation with the Russian Federation, including the reported recruitment of thousands of Cuban nationals – to fight in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which is incompatible with the spirit of the PDCA and contrary to the security interests of the EU; whereas, at the end of March 2026, a Russian-owned tanker carrying an estimated 730 000 barrels of crude oil was allowed to dock on Cuba’s northern coast;

R. whereas US political pressure and visa restrictions aimed at undermining Cuban medical cooperation missions threaten a vital contribution to public health systems across Latin America and the Caribbean and many other countries, including in the EU;

N. whereas, on 2 March 2026, more than 50 Cuban opposition and civil-society organisations, on the island and in exile, presented a roadmap to democratic transition – known as the Liberation Agreement, or Freedom Accord – setting out three phases of liberation, stabilisation and reconstruction, and democratisation, culminating in free, fair, multiparty elections supervised by the international community; whereas any transition must be Cuban-led and inclusive of all Cubans, on the island and in the diaspora;

S. whereas the presence of the Cuban medical brigade in Calabria, which has provided essential health services in peripheral, rural and underserved areas of southern Italy, has been widely recognised as a positive example of international medical cooperation and has generated a deep sense of gratitude among European citizens towards Cuba for its contribution to the protection of the right to health;

1. Condemns in the strongest terms the systematic repression carried out by the Cuban regime – in particular the torture, sexual violence, death threats, forced malnutrition, mass surveillance, forced labour and judicial persecution inflicted on political prisoners, protesters, dissidents, students, religious leaders and human-rights defenders – and the imprisonment of children; expresses its full solidarity with the Cuban people and with all those persecuted for defending their fundamental rights, including the leaders of the historical and emerging democratic opposition, and independent civic movements;

T. whereas Caribbean and overseas territory solidarity initiatives aimed at breaking the humanitarian isolation imposed by the US blockade deserve recognition and support; whereas the Nuestra America Convoy, an international civil society campaign uniting over 140 solidarity associations and delegations from more than 38 countries, reflects the broad international rejection of the blockade;

2. Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and of all persons arbitrarily detained for exercising their fundamental rights, including minors, an end to torture and ill-treatment, immediate access to free and fair trials, and to medical care for those in serious ill health, and full reparation for the victims of torture; demands that the regime grant unimpeded access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN special rapporteurs and procedures, a European Parliament delegation and independent observers to all places of detention, and deplores its repeated refusal to do so;

U. whereas the April 2026 decision by the Cuban Government to grant pardons to more than 2 000 prisoners, the fifth such process since 2011, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to over 11 000, demonstrates that engagement and dialogue can produce concrete, positive outcomes; whereas this development stands in stark contrast to the failure of decades of US coercive pressure to bring about any improvement in the human rights situation or the living conditions of the Cuban people;

3. Considers that the only way out of the hardship, poverty and isolation experienced by the Cuban people lies in profound economic and political changes leading without delay to a transition towards a full, multiparty democracy in which dissidents are not persecuted, imprisoned, tortured or murdered and in which fundamental rights and freedoms are respected through inclusive national dialogue towards that transition without restrictions;

V. whereas persistent and credible reports by UN experts and human rights organisations, and previous resolutions of the European Parliament, have documented serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law at the United States detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

4. Urges the Cuban regime to put forward sustainable and meaningful economic reforms that ensure legal certainty and support independent economic actors, private initiatives, investments and freedoms, as essential ways to avoid collapse;

1. Strongly condemns the United States’ blockade against Cuba as illegal, extraterritorial, inhumane and in direct violation of international law and the principles of the UN Charter; calls on the United States to immediately and unconditionally lift the embargo and all unilateral coercive measures against Cuba;

5. Calls on the Cuban authorities to protect human rights and to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression without discrimination based on political views; strongly condemns all violations of civil and political rights and freedoms, including arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, torture, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, harassment of independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society actors, as well as the disproportionate use of criminal sanctions against peaceful protesters;

2. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the executive measures issued by President Trump on 29 January 2026 and the secondary sanctions on 1 May 2026, which constitute an escalation of economic warfare against the Cuban people and a direct attack on European economic sovereignty;

6. Reiterates its previous positions regarding the activation of the PDCA’s suspension clause and calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to make clear that, unless clear, concrete and significant steps towards introducing such changes – including a clear proposal for a roadmap for democratic transition in Cuba, the immediate and unconditional release of the close to 1 300 political prisoners, and authorisation for Cubans forced to take the painful path of exile to return without reprisals – are taken in the short term, the EU should proceed without further delay to suspend the PDCA, which has been systematically breached by the Cuban regime;

3. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the comprehensive and escalating US blockade against Cuba as a strategy of deliberate collective deprivation that bears the hallmarks of a medieval siege; recalls that intentionally using starvation and deprivation as a political weapon against a civilian population is prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitutes a fundamental violation of human dignity; denounces the cynical use of the suffering of millions of Cuban men, women and children, including patients unable to access surgery, children in darkened schools, and families without water or food, as an instrument of geopolitical pressure; calls on the international community to name this policy for what it is: organised cruelty in violation of the most basic principles of international law and common humanity;

7. Calls for targeted measures under the EU Magnitsky Act against those responsible for repression, beginning with the most senior officials of the regime, including Miguel Díaz-Canel and the senior chain of command of the security, judicial and penitentiary apparatus, and against the leadership of GAESA;

4. Underlines that no country in the world, however resilient, can indefinitely withstand a total, comprehensive and inhumane blockade of the kind imposed and continuously tightened by the United States, which systematically deprives an entire population of fuel, medicines, food, financial access and the basic means of economic life; stresses that the accelerating deterioration of living conditions in Cuba today is the result of deliberate and escalating external economic aggression;

8. Calls on the regime to abolish, in all its forms, the pre-criminal mechanisms used to silence and arbitrarily imprison citizens, and to release all those convicted under them without any crime having been committed;

5. Expresses full solidarity with the people of Cuba, who are suffering as the result of a very difficult economic and social situation, mainly as a consequence of impositions by foreign powers, which have been trying to put an end to its own model of development since 1 January 1959;

9. Calls for an independent international investigation into prison conditions, the regime of forced malnutrition and deaths in custody;

6. Condemns the re-inclusion of Cuba on the United States’ list of State Sponsors of Terrorism as a politically motivated designation lacking credible justification; calls for its immediate removal from that list; stresses that this measure has severe extraterritorial consequences, further worsening Cuba’s access to the international banking system, humanitarian supplies and medicines;

10. Condemns the regime’s material support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, including the recruitment of Cuban nationals to fight against Ukraine, and its deepening military cooperation with Moscow, and insists that this be treated as a central element of the EU’s review of its relations with Cuba; condemns equally the regime’s alignment with the Lukashenka regime in Belarus, including the close military and security ties that undermine European security;

7. Rejects unequivocally the extraterritorial application of US sanctions against European companies and economic operators; calls for the EU institutions and Member States to take all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to protect European entities from the effects of these unlawful measures;

11. Insists that independent civil society and the democratic opposition take part, without reprisals, in any dialogue under the PDCA – whose inclusion the agreement itself requires – and that the EU be in no way complicit in human-rights violations on the island, including the medical missions involving forced labour, which it demands the regime end in all its forms;

8. Expresses serious concern at the pattern emerging from the application of US sanctions against Cuba, whereby European and other foreign companies are being forced out of Cuba’s tourism, real estate and strategic mining sectors through extraterritorial coercive measures in a manner that appears designed to favour US business interests connected to President Trump and his circle;

12. Expresses its utmost and urgent concern over the dramatic deterioration of living conditions in Cuba and the growing humanitarian impact of the lack of access to fuel, medicines, food and other essential goods and public services, particularly affecting vulnerable groups; calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop humanitarian channels delivering energy, food and medicine directly to the Cuban people and independent enterprises, bypassing the state, and calls on all donors to step up humanitarian aid, which must remain protected, free from state intermediation and never finance the regime;

9. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to fully and consistently apply Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96 and all relevant EU instruments in order to prevent any alignment by the EU and its economic operators with the United States’ unilateral and extraterritorial sanctions against Cuba, and to ensure that no European company is compelled to interrupt or reduce its legitimate commercial, financial or investment relations with the island as a consequence of such measures;

13. Stands ready, together with the international community, to provide Cuba with substantial assistance through channels independent of the government while it embarks on a credible democratic transition, so that the island may become prosperous and guarantee the well-being of its citizens; calls on the VP/HR and the Member States to raise these cases consistently in all relevant forums and to support accountability and a peaceful, citizen-led transition;

10. Recalls that the US embargo against Cuba is illegal, extraterritorial and contrary to international law; recalls that the UN General Assembly voted against the embargo for the 33rd consecutive year in 2025, by 165 votes to 7, with 12 abstentions; calls for the EU and its Member States to go beyond their traditional support for the UN resolution and to translate that position into concrete diplomatic and economic action to bring the embargo to an end;

14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the rotating Presidency of the Council, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the Cuban regime.

11. Rejects any attempt to exploit the difficult economic situation of the Cuban people in order to interfere in internal affairs; highlights that, according to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, ‘All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development’ without foreign interference; urges the EU and its Member States, therefore, to respect international law;

12. Condemns US pressure, threats of sanctions and economic coercion against sovereign governments in Latin America, including Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, aimed at restricting fuel shipments, trade and economic cooperation with Cuba; denounces these extraterritorial practices as violations of the sovereignty of these countries and of their right to freely conduct trade and regional cooperation;

13. Denounces the devastating impact of US sanctions on Cuba’s access to fuel, electricity, medicines and essential goods; expresses grave concern at the worsening humanitarian situation, including prolonged blackouts of up to 20 hours per day in some areas, shortages affecting hospitals, transport, and water and food supplies, and the situation of more than 96 000 patients reportedly awaiting surgery due to reduced hospital capacity;

14. Calls on the international community and the EU to ensure the immediate delivery of the approximately 170 containers of humanitarian aid currently held back by fuel shortages, and to provide emergency support to Cuban health facilities, including paediatric hospitals currently operating under severe constraints;

15. Stresses that, in the light of the severe humanitarian and socioeconomic crisis in Cuba, which is dramatically aggravated by the United States’ economic, commercial and financial embargo and its extraterritorial effects, the EU has a clear humanitarian responsibility to support the Cuban people; calls, therefore, on the Commission, the European External Action Service and the Member States to increase emergency and longterm humanitarian assistance, to facilitate the delivery of fuel, food, medicines, medical equipment and essential goods, and to ensure that EU policies and instruments are fully mobilised to mitigate the human cost of the blockade and to uphold the fundamental rights and dignity of the Cuban population;

16. Calls for the cancellation of Cuba’s debt payments to the Member States, and, in particular, the members of the so-called Paris Club, to enable the Cuban authorities to better cope with the difficult economic situation and to compensate for the Member States ‘climate debt’;

17. Expresses deep concern at the findings of the 2025 Lancet Global Health study estimating that unilateral sanctions are associated with around 564 000 deaths annually, with children under five representing 51 % of these deaths; calls for an end to the US embargo and sanctions regime in the light of these findings;

18. Expresses concern at the disruption of education caused by electricity shortages, transport cuts and temporary school and university closures resulting from the US embargo and its restrictions on Cuba’s access to fuel, spare parts, equipment and external financing;

19. Welcomes solidarity initiatives with Cuba led from Caribbean and overseas territories aimed at breaking the humanitarian isolation imposed by the US blockade; stresses the importance of international solidarity in ensuring access to fuel, medicines, food and essential goods for the Cuban population;

20. Warns that weakened public services greatly increase the risk of preventable diseases and public health emergencies; notes with grave concern the risk of a resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and oropouche in the whole Caribbean region, as noted by the Pan American Health Organization, a risk directly exacerbated by the US blockade;

21. Rejects US political pressure and visa restrictions aimed at undermining Cuban medical cooperation missions, which provide vital support to public health systems across Latin America and the Caribbean and in other countries, including in the EU;

22. Calls for the EU to defend health cooperation with Cuba and oppose US pressure on countries hosting Cuban medical brigades;

23. Recalls that any threat or use of force against Cuba would constitute a serious violation of the UN Charter and the principle of sovereignty; takes very seriously the increasingly aggressive rhetoric and signals from the Trump administration, including discussions in US policy circles about the possibility of military escalation and regime change; calls for the EU and its Member States to categorically reject any form of military intervention against Cuba;

24. Rejects any attempt by the US to use humanitarian hardship as leverage for regime change; reaffirms that positive change can only be promoted through genuine dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect, not through coercion and collective punishment; stresses that dialogue with Cuba must be conducted through diplomacy, not through intelligence pressure or threats;

25. Stresses the importance of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement as a key tool to promote understanding and mutually beneficial relations between the EU and Cuba; reaffirms its full support for the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Cuba as an essential framework for dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect; firmly rejects attempts to undermine this agreement through external pressure, unilateral sanctions or policies of isolation;

26. Welcomes the decision of the Cuban Government to grant pardons to more than 2 000 prisoners in April 2026, bringing the total number of beneficiaries of such processes since 2011 to over 11 000; underlines that this development is a direct result of sustained diplomatic engagement and dialogue; reaffirms its conviction that constructive cooperation, not coercion, isolation or economic warfare, is the only path capable of generating genuine and lasting improvements in the human rights situation and living conditions of the Cuban people; calls on all parties to pursue dialogue as the primary instrument of change;

27. Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Member States to defend the EU’s autonomous foreign policy and to firmly reject any attempt by the US administration to weaponise economic coercion, undermine multilateralism or dictate European foreign policy orientations; calls on them to openly call on the US administration to immediately end the inhumane blockade against Cuba;

28. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing operation of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and the grave human rights violations, including torture and illtreatment, committed there in violation of international law; reiterates its call on the US authorities to close the facility without further delay, to end the practice of indefinite detention without fair trial, to ensure full accountability for past abuses, and to provide effective remedies and reparations to all victims;

29. Calls for the EU and its Member States to take note of and actively support the international civil society solidarity campaigns, and to amplify voices calling for an end to the blockade and for the respect of Cuban sovereignty;

30. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Government and National Assembly of the Republic of Cuba, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Government of the United States of America.