Mexico Denounces at the UN That the Blockade Against Cuba “Is Beginning to Be Measured in Lives”

ByArturo Sánchez Jiménez

This article by Arturo Sánchez Jiménez originally appeared in the July 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. Mexico on Tuesday denounced at the United Nations (UN) the human impact of the US blockade imposed on Cuba and demanded an end to a siege that “is beginning to be measured in lives.”

Mexico’s representative to the body, Héctor Vasconcelos, warned before the General Assembly that the unilateral restrictions cause deaths due to the lack of medical supplies and hinder access to essential treatments for the island’s civilian population.

After recalling that the country opposed Cuba’s expulsion from the Organization of American States in the 1960s, considering that demand an undue interference in the island’s internal affairs, he maintained: “We defended then what we defend today, that it is up to the Cuban people and only to them to decide their destiny free of external pressures and impositions.”

It is for this reason “that we reaffirm our historic and consistent position against the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed on Cuba for more than six decades,” the diplomat declared during his intervention in the debate on the need to end the blockade.

The Mexican ambassador stated that these punitive measures are contrary to international law and alien to peaceful coexistence among nations. He maintained that the multilateral order must be based on the legal equality of States, so the full exercise of sovereignty on the island demands the immediate lifting of the sanctions.

Vasconcelos emphasized the social and human cost of the economic siege, noting that the restrictions directly impact the most vulnerable sectors of the Cuban population. He detailed that the effects are no longer expressed in financial variables, but in the loss of lives due to the medical shortage.

When unilateral measures prevent timely access to medicines, delay thousands of surgeries, or limit the arrival of humanitarian assistance, the impact stops being measured in mere figures and begins to be measured in lives. Boys and girls die because doctors lack access to medical supplies, while the infant mortality rate doubles and the child cancer survival rate declines.

Likewise, the Mexican representative extended his government’s call for Cuba to be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism drawn up by Washington, a condition that, he said, multiplies the difficulties for the Caribbean nation’s financial transactions and international trade.

Vasconcelos affirmed that the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will continue the policy of solidarity with the island through the shipment of food, goods, and essential supplies.

He recalled that the General Assembly has pronounced itself by majority on 33 occasions against the embargo, so he urged the international community to prioritize understanding to allow the island to integrate fully and without restrictions into the international community.