The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), has faulted the increasingly harsh and anti-human policies being imposed against Cuba, particularly the Executive Order 14380 of January 29, 2026, and the follow-up sanctions issued on May 1, 2026, by President Donald Trump targeting Cuba’s energy, financial, defense, mining, and commercial sectors.
The CDHR, in a statement yesterday, jointly signed by its National President, Comrade ‘Yinka Folarin, and National Secretary, Comrade Idris Afees, views the Executive Order as a dangerous escalation of economic aggression and a direct attack on the survival, dignity, and fundamental human rights of the Cuban people.
“The provisions contained in Section 2 of the Executive Order, which impose sweeping sanctions and punitive restrictions against individuals, institutions, and foreign entities engaging with Cuba, constitute a grave threat to the right to life, survival, and wellbeing of millions of Cubans. By effectively strangulating access to fuel, trade, financial cooperation, and humanitarian support, these measures risk creating conditions incompatible with human dignity and sustainable civilian existence. “Executive Order 2 of May 1, 2026, not merely a political or diplomatic instrument, but a policy framework capable of producing severe humanitarian consequences that endanger lives and undermine the collective rights of an entire nation. The continued tightening of these sanctions constitutes a huge threat to humanity, particularly to the Cuban people’s internationally recognised right to life, healthcare, food security, development, and self-determination.”
The Committee noted that the current sanctions regime has already severely disrupted fuel supplies to the island nation, resulting in prolonged nationwide blackouts lasting over sixteen hours daily, paralysis of transportation systems, shortages of food and clean water, collapse of essential public services, and dangerous disruptions within Cuba’s healthcare sector.
“Reports indicating suspended surgeries for tens of thousands of patients, interruptions in chemotherapy and dialysis treatments, and worsening shortages of medical supplies paint a disturbing picture of an avoidable humanitarian catastrophe.”
CDHR noted that the developments are deeply troubling and inconsistent with the principles of international law, human rights, and the sovereign equality of nations as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
“No political disagreement, ideological conflict, or geopolitical interest should justify policies that inflict collective suffering upon innocent civilians. Economic coercion that undermines access to healthcare, electricity, food, and basic human necessities cannot be separated from its grave humanitarian consequences.
“We’re concerned by inflammatory rhetoric suggesting intentions to destabilise or impose political outcomes on a sovereign state. Such pronouncements undermine peaceful international relations and threaten the global principles of non-interference and self-determination.”
The CDHR recalls with historical consciousness the immense contributions Cuba has made to liberation struggles and humanitarian efforts across Africa and the Global South. From supporting anti-colonial movements in Algeria, Angola, Namibia, Guinea-Bissau, and South Africa, to deploying thousands of medical professionals during the Ebola outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba has consistently demonstrated international solidarity despite enduring decades of sanctions and isolation.
“It’s therefore painful that much of the international community, particularly nations with long-standing historical ties to Cuba, has remained largely muted while the Cuban people endure immense hardship.
“We call on governments, regional organizations, civil society groups, labor movements, humanitarian institutions, and all defenders of justice across the world to raise their voices against the ongoing economic strangulation of Cuba and in defense of the Cuban people’s right to sovereignty and self-determination.
“We also call upon the United Nations, international humanitarian bodies, and global defenders of human rights to rise in defense of truth, justice, and international legality by taking urgent steps toward addressing the humanitarian crisis confronting Cuba and opposing policies that continue to endanger civilian lives. History will remember not only those who imposed suffering, but also those who remained silent while it unfolded.
“The people of Cuba deserve solidarity, dignity, peace, and the freedom to determine their future without external coercion or economic siege.”
