At a solidarity event organized by the National Committee for Solidarity with Cuba at HKS Surjeet Bhawan in New Delhi on May 16, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla delivered a detailed address on the situation facing Cuba amid escalating pressure from the United States.

Beginning his remarks by thanking the solidarity movement in India and across the world, Rodríguez recalled the historic role played by former CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet in extending support to Cuba during difficult times. Referring to Surjeet’s visit to Cuba over three decades ago with ten thousand tons each of wheat and rice, he recalled how Fidel Castro had described the gesture as “The Bread of India.” This was a time when Cuba was reeling in the midst of a financial crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union and sanctions imposed by US imperialism and Surjeet had taken the initiative to start mass collections to help Cuba and facilitated the shipment of grain to Cuba. The Cuban Foreign Minister, who was in India to take part in the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 14 and 15 May, said that the gathering renewed the historic bond of solidarity between the peoples of India and Cuba.

The Foreign Minister said Cuba was passing through one of the gravest moments in its contemporary history and warned of the threat of direct military aggression by the United States. Citing statements made by US President Donald Trump and recent executive orders issued by the US administration, Rodríguez argued that Cuba was being subjected to intensified hostility under the pretext of being labelled an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security. He rejected this characterization as a “deliberate lie” and asserted that it was Cuba that was under attack.  Pointing out that military aggression would have unpredictable consequences for the region and for Cuba in particular, Rodríguez stated that Cuba desired to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and the shedding of blood and the death of both its compatriots and American youths. “What justification could the government of this superpower possibly have for such a barbaric, brutal, crude and uncivilized act,” he questioned.

Rodríguez condemned the tightening of the decades-long US blockade against Cuba, especially the additional coercive measures imposed since 2019. He said the blockade had severely affected Cuba’s economy and humanitarian conditions, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cuba faced obstacles in obtaining ventilators, medical oxygen and medicines. He vehemently denounced the recent US measures targeting countries and companies exporting fuel to Cuba, pointing out that it is equivalent to an energy blockade and therefore an “act of war.” Through an executive order issued on May 1, the United States has now instituted secondary sanctions which can be applied against any person, entity or company engaged in activities related to Cuba, even if their interests in the US economy have no connection with the country. The Foreign Minister said that the new order represents an extremely aggressive and unprecedented step in the extraterritorial implementation of the blockade against Cuba and amounts to a naval blockade, another “act of war.”

Describing the impact of the blockade on everyday life in Cuba, Rodríguez said prolonged power outages, disruptions in transport and medical services, and shortages of food and fuel had created immense hardships for the Cuban people. He stated that the infant mortality rate in Cuba had doubled by the end of 2025 and that thousands of patients, including children, were awaiting surgery because of shortages caused by the sanctions regime. Listing out the ways in which the brutally reinforced blockade was having a devastating and incalculable impact on the daily lives of the Cuban people, Rodríguez called it “an act of genocide and a collective punishment that causes extraordinary humanitarian harm, suffering, deprivations and extreme hardships to Cuban families”. He also pointed out that the blockade was not the only form of aggression against Cuba. “With tolerance and impunity violent and terrorist acts are being perpetrated from the US territory against Cuba. There is a continued instigation to violence and sedition accompanied by a government-sponsored multi-million program that supports a cognitive warfare against the Cuban people,” he said.

At the same time, Rodríguez emphasized the resilience of the Cuban people and outlined measures being undertaken by the Cuban government to overcome the crisis. These included reforms to encourage foreign investment, steps towards food sovereignty, and efforts to transform Cuba’s energy matrix through investments in solar power. He stressed that Cuba’s socialist system and the determination of its people remained the country’s greatest strength. The Foreign Minister stated that no one should have any doubts about the determination of the Cuban people to defend their sovereignty, their independence and their self-determination. “If the most reactionary sectors of the US extreme right prevail in their aggressive approach, they will find a united people, ready to confront any aggression against our homeland,” he said. “Should a military action take place, the warmongering zeal of the current neo-fascists in the White House will clash with the resolve, preparedness and traditions of struggle of our people,” he declared.

The Foreign Minister warned that the attack against Cuba was also an attack against the sovereign prerogatives of States. “This is an unprecedented situation in a world in which a superpower abuses, on a customary basis, its capacity to impose, on virtually all States, the prohibition to act in a sovereign manner,” he said. “This poses a great dilemma for the entire international community,” he noted, warning that in the face of such actions, no State will be able to act in a sovereign and independent manner or exercise the sovereignty of its people.

The Cuban Foreign Minister reiterated Cuba’s willingness to engage in respectful dialogue with the United States while asserting that Cuba’s sovereignty, independence and socialist system of governance were not open for negotiation. He said successive Cuban leaders, including Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel, had always been prepared for dialogue based on mutual respect.

Concluding his address, Rodríguez praised the solidarity extended by the Indian people and called for greater international mobilization against the blockade of Cuba. He urged supporters to continue speaking about the realities faced by Cuba and to strengthen campaigns in solidarity with the Cuban people and delivered a passionate appeal to friends, peace-loving peoples and advocates of just causes to confront the lies and mobilize in order to prevent a foreseeable military aggression against Cuba. “Condemn the blockade with the same conviction with which Surjeet carried rice and wheat to Cuban ports, being reassured that we are on the right side of history,” Rodríguez said.

Reaffirming Cuba’s anti-imperialist and internationalist traditions inspired by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, the Foreign Minister stated that Cuba would continue to resist external pressure and defend its sovereignty. “I can assure you that we keep on struggling and that we will keep on struggling, dreaming, committed to the continued improvement of our socialist construction process. Cuba resists!  Cuba does not give in,” he defiantly declared.

The solidarity meeting also included the screening of a short documentary on Fidel Castro’s contributions to building socialism in Cuba and a rendition of the national anthems of India and Cuba by a visiting Cuban violinist. Leaders of Left Parties, including CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and Head of the International Department R Arun Kumar, CPI National Secretariat member Ram Krushna Panda, CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member Ravi Rai, RSP General Secretary Manoj Bhattacharya and All India Forward Bloc Secretary Dharmendra Verma attended the meeting, along with CPI(M) leader Su Venkatesan, Lok Sabha MP from Madurai and member of the Cuba Friendship Group in the Indian Parliament, and Javed Ali Khan, Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh.