Could Cuba Become a “Silent Gaza”? U.S. Fuel Blockade Aims to “Asphyxiate” Island: Top Cuban Diplomat

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As the United Nations General Assembly opens in New York, we speak with senior Cuban diplomat Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who says the Trump administration is seeking to “asphyxiate the people of Cuba into submission.” On Friday, millions in Cuba lost power in what was at least the sixth major blackout since President Trump cut off fuel shipments to the island in January. The fuel blockade comes on top of the six-decade-long U.S. economic embargo and countless attempts to topple the communist government.

“We will do all we can to stop any nation, the U.S. or any nation, from taking over Cuba,” says Fernández de Cossío, who has served as deputy Cuban foreign minister since 2022.

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman in New York. Juan González is in Chicago.

As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly here in New York, we turn now to look at Cuba, which is facing a growing humanitarian crisis amidst an escalating economic war waged by the Trump administration. On Friday, millions in Cuba lost power in what was at least the sixth major blackout since President Trump cut off fuel shipments to the island in January. The fuel blockade comes on top of the six-decade-long U.S. embargo. Residents of Havana say they have no water or electricity in their homes.

VALENTIN PARRA: [translated] It’s very bad for everyone, because everyone gets desperate in a house without water and without light. It’s a phenomenon that isn’t seen anywhere else in the world, only here. And when people don’t have water — look, I myself was without water for 15 days, without water or light for 15 days. The luck is that I could bathe over here and bathe on the other side. But tell me: What does someone do who doesn’t have that possibility?

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, the CIA recently formed a new secret Cuba task force as part of a widening U.S. effort to pressure Cuba. According to the Times, the CIA is adding case officers who recruit and manage spies, as well as officers who conduct cyber operations and specialize in covert influence operations.

The U.S. has made many attempts to overthrow the Cuban government over the past 65 years, hundreds of attempts. In 1960, the CIA formed a Cuba task force that oversaw the failed Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17th, 1961. The Guardian recently reported allies of President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have already begun vying for control of Cuba’s assets if the Cuban government falls under the U.S. pressure. The Wall Street Journal just published an article headlined “The Backroom Meetings in Miami Where Cuba’s Future Is Being Plotted.”

To talk about all of this, we’re joined by Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.

Welcome back to Democracy Now!

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: It is an honor.

AMY GOODMAN: Thanks so much for being with us. I’m glad we’re within the 25-mile zone that you’re allowed to travel in in New York. Right? Twenty-five miles from Columbus Circle?

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: Columbus Circle, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Number one, if you can talk about what is — as the foreign minister addresses the United Nations, what’s the Cuban government’s message to the Trump administration as it tightens the economic sanctions and embargo?

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: We will be speaking to the international community at the U.N., not necessarily to the U.S. government, but the U.S. belongs to the international community. We live in a world which has become very dangerous, where expansionism, the ambition of domination, the attempts to take over the natural resources of developing countries has come back to the stage. The U.N. was created precisely for that not to happen, and has developed precisely for not that to happen, yet as reality today as a result of a foreign policy that is conceptualized as peace through force, which implies imposing the will of the U.S. through intimidation, aggression, coercion and so on. So, that’s one point that we need to talk.

We need to talk about the plight of the people of Cuba, because the aggression of the United States against Cuba today has a very serious human face. You spoke about the total blackout that occurred just this past week. That is an incident in Cuba. More serious than that is the daily life of Cubans, when you have two to three hours a day of electricity for many months already, an accumulation, and weeks without running water. It’s hugely uncomfortable and detrimental to the daily life of our community. And then we can speak about its impact on health, on education, and if we had time, I could expand on all of that. So it’s something we want to raise.

The U.N. has had a long-standing position on a topic that is titled the need to put an end to the economic blockade of the United States against Cuba. Yet it continues to be there, and it’s reinforced. Cuba is ready to engage with the United States on talks — we’ve proven; traditionally, we’ve done it — but to solve bilateral issues, not to discuss about a takeover of Cuba or the control of Cuba, as is being claimed in Washington frequently.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Deputy Foreign Minister, I wanted to ask you about this Times report about yet another CIA task force. Has the Cuban government identified cyberattacks in recent months or years likely from the United States?

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: Yes, we have. And we have been used for decades for the CIA to have task force teams, mercenary armies, terrorist organizations, all kinds of schemes to try to overthrow the government of Cuba. So, we wouldn’t be surprised by the creation of the new task force that’s being talked about. But, yes, we’ve been subject of cyberattacks.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Also, the State Department accused the Cuban government of, quote, “waging a sustained campaign of subversion” against the United States, and it claims that Cuba is backing groups like the National Lawyers Guild, CodePink, Pastors for Peace. Your response to those claims?

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: The report of the State Department, if you read it — I don’t know how many people have read it — seems like a fable. And it gives Cuba credit for things that it’s impossible for a nation of Cuba to carry it out, and it discredits the genuine movements for justice, the genuine movements for civil rights and the genuine movements even for freedom that have existed in the United States for decades. So, it’s an exaggeration to try to place Cuba in the absurd position of being a threat to the most powerful nation on Earth, and it’s also a way to blur a very clear and undisputable truth: that between Cuba and the United States, there is one country that is the aggressor, and one country, which is Cuba, that is under aggression. And that’s the aim of these slanderous reports and claims by the U.S. government.

AMY GOODMAN: So, according to the Times, the CIA is adding case officers who recruit and manage spies, as well as officers who conduct cyber operations and specialize in covert influence operations. The Guardian recently reported allies of Trump and Rubio have already begun vying for control of Cuba’s assets if the Cuban government falls under U.S. pressure. It sounds a little bit like what’s happened with Venezuela, and I was wondering if you can comment on that. We’re not that far from where the Venezuelan president and his wife, the first lady, are imprisoned.

CARLOS FERNÁNDEZ DE COSSÍO: Schemes like these have been — have occurred several times in the past 60-something years. They always end up in a fundraising, and sometimes end up in hoax. People want to earn money saying that they promise that they’re going to distribute land, that they’re going to provide this bank and that they’re going to distribute Cuba. That will not happen. That would imply taking over Cuba. And we will do all we can to stop any nation, the U.S. or any nation, from taking over Cuba.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And have there bee