International
May 12th, 2026 Statement: D12IS DENOUNCES LATEST U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST CUBA
May 12, 2026
THE DECEMBER 12TH MOVEMENT DENOUNCES LATEST U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST CUBA
On International Worker’s Day, the U.S. escalated its attack on the leading socialist country in the West. President Trump’s cynical issuance of another executive order against Cuba on May 1st is the cruel intensification of its slow-motion chokehold designed to cripple the Cuban economy. The May 1 sanctions penalize any company or country which does business with “priority areas” of the Cuban economy as defined by Secretary of State Rubio.
The fact that these new sanctions are enacted on the down-low do not make them any less deadly. In a New York Times Op-Ed, U.S. Congresspersons Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson wrote “What We Saw in Cuba Shocked Us.” They describe the effects which the sanctions have had on Cuba’s once-vaunted medical system. The Cuban infant mortality rate which was previously lower than that of the U.S. has now gone up 148%. They conclude that the U.S. sanctions policy “amounts to an economic assault on the basic infrastructure of Cuba, designed to inflict collective punishment on the civilian population by manufacturing a humanitarian crisis in which healthcare, running water, agriculture and transportation are no longer available.”
This is a 2026 version of the Henry Kissinger inspired “make the economy scream” tactic which the U.S. used in 1973 to overthrow Chile’s socialist government.
The Black community in particular remembers that Cuba has been there for us – offering medical aid when Katrina and Covid-19 struck; providing free medical education to students from the U.S. and developing countries; giving their lives in battle in support of the liberation struggles in South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. Many of us rightfully see the attack on Cuba as an attack on us.
We call on all people of conscience to contact their elected representatives to denounce and force the ending of this U.S. blatant violation of international and humanitarian law.