Cuban president slams new US sanctions as 'genocidal blockade'

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday strongly condemned the new round of US sanctions, describing them as a "brutal genocidal blockade" against the nation.

In a statement posted on his social media account, Diaz-Canel said the measures announced by Washington on May 1 reveal the moral bankruptcy of the United States and its disregard for both the American public and the broader international community.

"No one with honesty can accept the claim that Cuba represents a threat," he added.

The country's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez earlier also denounced the sanctions, calling them "unilateral coercive measures" imposed by the US. Writing on X, Rodriguez said Havana "firmly rejects" the latest actions, which he described as an attempt to impose "collective punishment on the Cuban people."

He noted that the announcement coincided with International Workers' Day, when millions of Cubans traditionally rally to protest the US embargo and ongoing economic pressure.

"These measures are extraterritorial in nature and violate the United Nations Charter," Rodriguez said, adding that Washington has no right to impose sanctions on Cuba or on third parties engaging with the country.

The remarks came after an executive order on Friday introducing new sanctions targeting Cuba signed by US President Donald Trump, who also declared at an event in Florida, that the United States would take control of Cuba "almost immediately," suggesting the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the island after concluding operations in Iran – comments that some media outlets said "appeared to be joking."

(With input from agencies)