Cuba’s deputy foreign minister denounced the U.S. sanctions as “akin to genocide.”
Published September 27, 2026
A senior Cuban official has warned that any future U.S. military action against the island nation would constitute a serious international crime, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that Cuba is a failed state.
On Sunday, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the country’s deputy foreign minister, told C-SPAN’s flagship Washington Journal that the use of military force by the United States against Cuba, its peaceful neighbor, would amount to a “brutal international crime.”
His comments came after President Trump said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday that “freedom will come” to the island. His remarks caused the Cuban delegation to leave the chamber. On Saturday, President Trump brought up military action, telling reporters, “I don’t think we need the military. Cuba is failing tremendously.”
Fernández de Cossio said that forcing countries that do not “submit,” as the United States has “been doing for the past nine months,” by disrupting commercial transport, handicapping people with hunger, depriving them of reliable health care, and withholding fuel, “is tantamount to genocide.”
For more than 60 years, the United States has maintained a foreign policy of maximum economic pressure on Cuba. The Trump administration has previously said it wants to overhaul Cuba’s government. Earlier this year, the regime imposed an additional oil and fuel blockade on the island, which crippled the country’s infrastructure and caused widespread fuel shortages and rolling blackouts. Cuban government officials cited systemic difficulties in securing food and other basic necessities for a country of more than 10 million people.
Fernández de Cossio said Havana needs its people to prepare for a possible U.S. military invasion, adding that Cuba recognizes it could be isolated but intends to exercise its legitimate right of self-defense.
He explained that while bilateral diplomatic channels with the United States remain open, minimal results have been achieved due to the economic pressure from ongoing sanctions, adding that Havana remains ready to engage with the United States “respectfully” only if discussions respect mutual dignity, benefit both peoples and respect national sovereignty.
Several countries condemned the United States’ continued economic sanctions and blockade of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week.
