Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Warns Washington’s Economic Pressure Won’t Break Sovereignty

September 16, 2026 Hour: 5:15 am

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said Washington’s plans to force regime change in Cuba by intensifying economic pressure will fail, warning that the strategy seeks to push the population toward a humanitarian crisis and provoke artificial discontent against the state.

In an interview for Breaking Points, he said the aggression would not cause the Cuban government to collapse or surrender its sovereignty to the United States.

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Fernández de Cossío said Cuba is advancing economic reforms that expand the role of the market, the private sector and investment opportunities, describing them as the deepest changes since the 1960s.

He said the U.S. blockade directly affects daily life, with many Cubans receiving only two or three hours of electricity per day and facing problems with water, transportation and hospital services. He warned of critical situations in operating rooms and for newborns dependent on life support.

U.S. restrictions severely affect fuel imports and hinder Cuba’s acquisition of solar panels from China, he said, because Washington refuses to sell them to Cuba in order to slow the transition to renewable energy.

He dismissed U.S. humanitarian aid announcements as a public relations strategy, saying they cover a tiny fraction of needs. Cuban authorities have repeatedly denounced the restrictions as collective punishment that violates international law and undermines human rights, arguing Washington’s aim is not democratic change but regime change through systematic asphyxiation and citizen suffering.

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