On the political repression and humanitarian situation in Cuba

B100289/2026

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

(2026/2735(RSP))

The European Parliament,

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

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

– having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966,

– having regard to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights of 2011,

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

– 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 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 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 Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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.