WASHINGTON, D.C.—The White House recently introduced a new National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) that enforces a stricter U.S. stance against the Cuban government, undoing the concessions made by former President Joe Biden.
While presented as a measure to “support the Cuban people,” many Cubans disagree and believe this is a reissue of a previous national security memorandum, issued in 2017 by then-President Trump.
Cuba categorically denounces and rejects both versions of this infamous document. The most recent one was released June 30. “As a clear expression of that country’s aggressive behavior and hegemonic aims.
The original text and its current reissue contemplate a set of measures aimed at further strengthening the economic blockade and causing greater hardship for the Cuban people, in a failed attempt to take over the country and control its destiny.
In accordance with the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996,” wrote Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement posted on Granma, the island nation’s newspaper and website.
“Since 2017, under the protection of the memorandum issued at that time, the U.S. government began to apply measures to extremely reinforce the economic blockade, taking it to a qualitatively more damaging level.
These measures have been maintained for eight years, including during Joseph Biden’s administration, and largely explain the current shortages and the major challenges facing the Cuban economy in terms of recovery, growth, and development,” the statement continued.
China responded to the news by calling for the immediate lifting of the Cuban blockade and sanctions, as well as for the island to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed that over the past 60 years, the U.S. “has imposed a brutal blockade and illegal sanctions on Cuba, seriously violating its right to survival and development, violating the basic norms of international relations and causing serious disasters for the Cuban people.”
Ms. Mao reiterated that China “firmly supports Cuba in its search for a path of development that suits its national conditions” and expressed its rejection of Washington’s use of unilateral sanctions “under the pretext of supposed freedom and democracy.”
She emphasized that lifting the blockade and removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism is also the demand of the international community.
For decades, the blockade has produced economic hardships, humanitarian concerns and technological limitations. Helen Cairo Madrazo is a retired teacher in Cuba with a meager monthly subsidy. She was a child when the revolution—led by Comandante Fidel Castro— started and has lived her adult life under the American embargo.
Her uncle left her a one window space the size of a dorm room with an installed bathroom and upstairs she shared with her son. That home recently was destroyed due to its poor foundation. That left her living in a facility similar to a homeless shelter.
“Life is very hard because the prices are very high to get the products we need every day,” she told The Final Call. “For example, things we need to cook like oil, rice, sugar, and coffee. The prices are expensive, very, very high. Because all those products are imported.”
The United States has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba, since 1960, two years after Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S.-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista. The sanctions, which restrict most commercial activities between the two countries, have endured longer than any other trade embargo in recorded history.
While the recent presidential memorandum claims to support the Cuban people, many believe it relies on false assumptions and also perpetuates the suffering of those it claims to benefit.
Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, denounced on his X account that this memorandum, “Reinforces the economic aggression and blockade that punishes the entire Cuban people and is the main obstacle to our development.”
Cuba’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, also responded on X: “No U.S. national security interest […] is served by this memorandum. It only caters to the narrow, vile, and vengeful interests of those who have built fortunes and political careers on aggression against Cuba.”
Vice Minister de Cossío explained that while the defense of human rights is used to justify the blockade, what is ignored is that this policy constitutes a massive violation of Cuban fundamental rights. The blockade restricts access to medicine, food, and essential technologies.
“For six decades, Cuba has demonstrated it will not yield to pressure,” he wrote in a statement. “Our stance has never been to perpetuate conflict, but to seek solutions based on mutual respect and sovereignty.
Moments of rapprochement have brought concrete benefits for both peoples: advances in tourism, trade, cultural and educational exchanges, cooperation on migration issues, environmental protection, law enforcement, and counterterrorism. These experiences prove that collaboration—not isolation—is the path to a prosperous future.”
“Cuba does not ask for favors. We demand respect for our sovereignty and right to determine our own destiny. This NSPM will not change our determination to build a just and independent nation. We reiterate: understanding can only be achieved through dialogue and cooperation, never through confrontation.”