HAVANA (Dispatches) - Cuba’s top diplomat said that there are no talks underway with the United States, nor were there any plans for future negotiations, amid a “genocidal” blockade that Cuba says has cost the island nation over $8 billion in economic damages in the last year.
“There are no negotiations or agendas, although a willingness to stay in contact remains despite the lack of progress,” Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, told reporters at a press conference in Havana.
Rodriguez said that damages caused by the decades-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba had jumped 7 percent in 2025 versus the previous year, to $8.1 billion.
Cuba’s foreign minister said the financial hit to Cuba`s economy would balloon in the first months of 2026, after the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on the island that has all but decimated output and led to nationwide blackouts that now span days.
“The blockade doesn’t punish the government, it punishes every person (on the island) in every way,” Cuba`s top diplomat said. “It means long months spent living with only 2 or 3 hours of electricity a day or less, food spoiling, heat that makes it impossible to sleep, children doing their homework in near darkness.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rodriguez’s remarks.
The U.S., which regards the Cuban government as presenting national security concerns, has previously said the blockade and stepped-up sanctions are necessary to force a change to the communist-run government, which the Trump administration accuses of limiting Cuban’s economic and human rights.
The United Nations has called the Trump sanctions and energy siege a violation of international law. A team of UN experts in August warned of a growing risk of disease outbreaks on the island as the U.S. has tightened sanctions.
The U.S. also warned recently in a health alert of a spike in intestinal illnesses and diarrhea caused by failing water and electricity supply on the island.
Washington’s stepped-up trade embargo against Cuba caused the island a record economic loss of 8.083 billion U.S. dollars from March 2025 to February 2026, 7 percent higher than the previous year’s figure.
Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo for more than six decades. The government said the cumulative economic damage has exceeded 178.7 billion dollars at current prices, up 4.7 percent from the previous period.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped up the embargo by effectively banning fuel supplies to Cuba through executive orders that threaten sanctions against companies operating tankers or shipping lines, leading to an acute energy crisis.
According to government data, Cuba’s infant mortality rate rose from four per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 9.9 in 2025, a trend Rodriguez attributed to a lack of resources in the public health system and difficulties providing medical care and services.
Transportation and education have not been spared, he added, as fuel shortages have made it difficult for workers, students and teachers to commute.