WFTU Statement of Internationalist Solidarity with Cuba Against the fuel blockade and the escalation of imperialist aggression

WFTU Statement of Internationalist Solidarity with Cuba

Against the fuel blockade and the escalation of imperialist aggression

02 February 2026

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), expresses its strong and unequivocal condemnation of the new escalation of the United States' economic, political and energy blockade against Cuba.

The recent executive order of the Trump administration, announced on 29 January 2026, aims at the complete obstruction of fuel supplies to Cuba, through threats, coercion and blackmail against third countries. By threatening the imposition of tariffs on imports from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, the US government attempts to enforce an absolute fuel blockade, further intensifying the long-standing criminal policy against the Cuban people.

This escalation directly targets the basic living conditions of workers and the people of Cuba. Fuel restrictions affect hospitals, electricity generation, food distribution, transport, public services and productive activity. This is economic warfare, consciously designed to deepen shortages, create suffering and destabilise Cuban society.

For more than six decades, the imperialist blockade has sought to strangle Cuba's economy, overthrow its revolutionary process and punish a people that chose a path of sovereignty, social justice and dignity. Despite these attacks, Cuba has defended universal public healthcare, education, social protection and internationalist solidarity, even under conditions of permanent aggression.

The WFTU denounces the provocative and false pretexts used by the US government, including the absurd claim that Cuba constitutes a threat to US national security. These fabrications insult the intelligence of the international community. Cuba threatens no people, occupies no foreign lands and imposes no sanctions. On the contrary, it is a peaceful country, respected for its solidarity and cooperation with peoples across the world.

This new measure constitutes a blatant violation of international law, an act of extraterritorial coercion and an open attempt to dictate the sovereign trade relations of independent states. It confirms the dangerous path of US foreign policy, based on force, intimidation and the pursuit of imperialist dominance, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, in direct contradiction with the Declaration of the Region as a Zone of Peace.

The WFTU expresses its full solidarity with the Revolutionary Government of Cuba and the heroic Cuban people, who have repeatedly demonstrated their readiness for dialogue based on sovereign equality, mutual respect and non-interference, while firmly defending their independence and revolutionary gains.

The WFTU calls upon its affiliates, friends and class-oriented trade unions worldwide to:

• Intensify internationalist solidarity with Cuba, condemning the fuel blockade
• Demand the immediate and unconditional lifting of the US blockade against Cuba
• Strengthen the international solidarity movement in defence of peoples' sovereignty, peace and social progress

Cuba is not alone!

Hands off Cuba!

End the blockade now!