“For five days, from Friday 18 to Wednesday 23 October, Cuban families were deprived, except for a few hours, of electricity, with the anxiety that food would spoil and it would not be possible or very costly to replace it, and many of them lacked running water.” This is how Cuba’s Political Bureau member and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla began his speech before the UN General Assembly, referring to those recent moments when the country’s electro-energy crisis reached a peak, following the disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN).
“Hospitals operated under emergency conditions and schools and universities suspended classes. Entities interrupted their activities and only the vital ones were maintained. The economy came to a halt,” he told the plenary.
In addition, during the blackout, Hurricane Oscar hit the eastern part of the country on October 20 and, despite the efforts of the Cuban Civil Defense, eight people died, including a five-year-old girl, while two are still missing. Satellite photos showed the country to be in darkness and, in addition, subjected to heavy rains and winds.
The diplomat emphasized that, in spite of such conditions, the serenity, understanding and support of the people, who, together with 52,000 workers in the electricity sector, worked with the different organizations to restore stability to the country, was impressive.
“The primary cause of the failure of the National Electric System was the lack of fuel, which affected generation and caused instability associated with the precarious state of our plants, both direct consequences of the extreme measures of economic warfare applied by the US Government since 2019, specifically designed to prevent supplies of fuel, and of parts and pieces for technical maintenance to our plants and electrical facilities, as well as to hinder investment and access to financing,” denounced the Chancellor.
Electricity generation in our nation is highly dependent on imported fuels, and in just one year, the previous U.S. government sanctioned 53 ships and 27 companies associated with shipments to Cuba, he said.

He added that the damage to the Cuban economy, from 18 days of blockade, amounts to 252 million dollars, money that is lost or not received, and that would be enough to ensure the maintenance of thermoelectric plants and purchase spare parts, which would prevent power cuts.
The damages for five months of blockade are equivalent to Cuba’s total annual fuel imports, which average some 2 billion dollars.
“President Joseph Biden’s administration often declares that “helping and supporting the Cuban people” is its policy. Who can believe it?” he said, describing what the U.S. administration is doing as an attempt to sabotage the island’s development.
The Cuban State is working tirelessly to find solutions to the tensions it is experiencing, which is surprising if one takes into account that, under our extreme conditions, Cuba is still building a social work recognized worldwide.
At the same time, he denounced that, with the blockade, imperialism warns that any nation that tries to defend its sovereignty will pay the price.
“No country, even those with economies much more robust than Cuba’s, could face such a brutal, asymmetrical and extended aggression in time, without a considerable cost for the standard of living of its population,” he warns.
THE POSSIBILITY OF A CUBA WITHOUT A BLOCKADE
What would Cuba be like today if it had been able to count on the 164 billion dollars that the blockade has deprived us of since its imposition, he questioned. Those damages amount to one trillion 499.71 billion dollars, if the behavior of the dollar against the value of gold is taken into account.
The Chancellor also denounced the political commitment announced by then President Donald Trump, since he was elected, aimed at undoing the discreet progress in the bilateral relationship experienced by Cuba and the United States between 2015 and 2016.
Then, Joseph Biden, under whose administration the blockade has caused losses to Cuba of more than $16 billion, “has left intact the coercive regime of his predecessor, and has applied it aware of the devastating consequences for Cuban families,” he said.
“These are exorbitant amounts for any nation, but even more so for a small, insular, without great natural resources and developing economy such as Cuba’s,” he said.
“More than 80% of our population has only known a Cuba with a blockade.  All young Cubans have had to live in a blockaded country,” he lamented, adding that this has led to a large number of Cubans opting for migration.
Regarding the right to food, he pointed out that the accumulated cost of four months of blockade is equivalent to 1.6 billion dollars, which would ensure, for one year, the delivery of the standard food basket to the population.
He also recalled the draconian conditions to which the U.S. subordinates the legal provisions of the year 2000, by which the U.S. allows, within the absolute prohibition of exports to Cuba, the exceptional export of foodstuffs by means of licenses, only with advance payments, in cash, and with products that can only be transported in U.S. ships, which return empty.
With regard to health, Rodríguez Parrilla recalled that Cuba is capable of producing close to 60% of its basic list of medicines, but the extreme tightening of the measures has prevented it from doing so. Only 25 days of blockade, amounting to 339 million dollars, would guarantee for one year the production and availability of essential drugs.
“The U.S. government knows perfectly well the direct and indirect impact that its policy has on the Cuban health system. It is well aware of the suffering and anguish it causes, and of the consequences in terms of incomplete or delayed treatments, postponed surgeries and scarce sanitary materials. It cannot hide the fact that his objective, with full awareness, is to cause harm to the population”, the diplomat denounced.
Since the beginning of Biden’s term in office, 1,064 foreign banks have refused to provide services to Cuban entities for fear of U.S. fines; banking services have been denied to our nationals in many countries; and more than 300,000 European citizens who visited Cuba have been denied the benefit of the expedited electronic visa (known as this one).
Biden has all the prerogatives to sign at any time a document that leaves Cuba off that spurious list, in which it should never have been included. It would be the only morally and legally correct thing to do, he added.
He also denounced the permanent discrediting communication operation to which Cuba is subjected, trying to hold the Cuban government responsible for the impact caused, intentionally, by the U.S. siege against the island.
In closing, he said about the presidential elections in the U.S. “The winning government, whichever it is, will have the opportunity to decide whether to continue the failed approach and the inhumane encirclement measures of the last six decades, or whether to finally listen, democratically, to its own people and, also, to the overwhelming majority of the international community, and allow our people to develop to their full potential and real capacity.
“In either case, you will find on Cuba’s part the firm determination to defend its sovereign right to build a future of its own, independent, socialist, free from foreign interference and committed to peace, sustainable development, social justice and solidarity.
“You will also find the willingness to serious and responsible dialogue, to move towards a constructive and civilized relationship, based on sovereign equality, mutual respect, reciprocal benefit for both peoples, even aware of the deep political differences between our governments,” he concluded.