The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has denounced the adoption of new coercive measures by the United States aimed at Cuban companies and ships, as well as at foreign firms involved in the supply of goods and services essential for the economic and social development of the Caribbean country.
In a message released on his social media profiles, the Cuban leader held Washington responsible for maintaining a policy of "economic suffocation and collective punishment" whose purpose would be, as he emphasized, "to subdue an entire nation."
Díaz-Canel has questioned the arguments put forward by the U.S. Administration to support these measures, calling them "lying and absurd," and he has reiterated that, in his view, they lack support both in the international community and among the citizens of the United States themselves.
"They will not break us!", the head of state emphasized, who defended that "Cuba is not a threat" and insisted on pointing to the U.S. blockade as the real origin of the situation the island is going through.
The words of the head of government come just two days after the U.S. Treasury Department announced this Thursday the imposition of new sanctions on two individuals, five companies, and two vessels, within the campaign driven by the White House against the Cuban authorities.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has added to its well-known 'blacklist' two Cuban citizens—among them the brigadier general and president of Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), Any Lastres Morera—and four state-owned companies, with the aim of "reinforcing the comprehensive initiative of the Administration (of President, Donald) Trump to put an end to the illicit activities of the Cuban regime, both in Cuba and throughout the entire hemisphere."