CARICOM ministers reject tougher US sanctions on Cuba as two states hold back

Foreign ministers from the Caribbean Community, along with Cuba, said on Wednesday that they were deeply troubled by what they regarded as a rising wave of United States economic, trade and financial pressure on Havana.

Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago did not join the regional position released by the CARICOM Council for Foreign and Community Relations, known as COFCOR. Both countries are part of the US-led Shield of the Americas alliance, a 17-country Western Hemisphere security arrangement launched in March 2026 to support intelligence sharing, anti-drug efforts, action against transnational organised crime, and cooperation on migration security.

COFCOR said the added strain on Cuba was making humanitarian conditions worse and was also being felt by Caribbean people who reside or study on the island. “The mounting hardships facing the Cuban people also seriously impact CARICOM nationals studying and living in Cuba, whose well-being remains a priority for the Community,” the ministers said.

The council took aim at fresh measures announced by Donald Trump, after his administration issued an executive order directed at foreign involvement in Cuba’s economy. Trump said Cuba’s “policies, practices, and actions” damaged US interests and conflicted with “the moral and political values of free and democratic societies.”

The announced steps include wider limits intended to block foreign companies and individuals from doing business in parts of the Cuban economy, depending on decisions by the US Treasury and State Departments. They add to the long-running American trade and economic embargo on Havana.

US officials earlier this month also brought criminal charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, with allegations including conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of an aircraft, and murder.

COFCOR said the newest moves by Washington intensify sanctions that have affected Cuba for more than 60 years. “These measures compound the trade and economic embargo imposed on Cuba for over six decades, which has had a deleterious effect on the lives and livelihoods of the Cuban people,” the statement said.

The ministers also objected to efforts to interfere with Cuba’s access to energy, saying those actions were helping to drive a deeper humanitarian emergency. “COFCOR unequivocally affirms Cuba’s sovereign right to import and receive fuel, and condemns the obstruction of energy supplies to Cuba, which has precipitated a grave humanitarian crisis,” the statement added.

The regional grouping cautioned as well against any military build-up involving Cuba, again stressing CARICOM’s long-held view that the Caribbean should be maintained as a “Zone of Peace.” “COFCOR reaffirms the need for the preservation of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and expresses alarm at recent statements that suggest the possibility of military aggression against the Republic of Cuba,” the ministers said.

According to the ministers, military action would undermine regional security and bring needless hardship across the Caribbean.

They also restated the position taken each year by an overwhelming majority of United Nations member states against the US embargo, saying Cuba “poses no threat to any nation” and continues to work with the wider international community.

COFCOR said the continued reliance on unilateral sanctions against Cuba amounts to “an unjustifiable violation of human rights, the principles of free trade, and the fundamental norms governing relations among sovereign states.”