Trump Increases Sanctions and Threatens Military Action Against Cuba
All Out to Defend Revolutionary Cuba!
Hands Off Cuba!
Ottawa, May 1, 2026
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) vehemently condemns the new sanctions U.S. President Trump ordered against Cuba on May 1. On May 1 the White House issued the new sanctions by Executive Order, using emergency powers of the President. The order imposes new sanctions on entities, persons or affiliates that support Cuba, declaring that "the President is addressing the national security threats posed by communist Cuba." The irrational justification includes that Cuba "aligns itself with countries and malicious actors hostile to the United States." It repeats numerous U.S. imperialist lies that Cuba facilitates military and intelligence operations of "hostile" countries; that "Cuba maintains close ties to other major state sponsors of terrorism, including the Government of Iran, and provides safe haven for transnational terrorist groups, including Hezbollah." It claims that "Cuba provides a permissive environment for hostile foreign intelligence, military, and terrorist operations less than 100 miles from the American homeland." This last point alludes to U.S. claims about China using Cuban territory to spy on the U.S., a claim that is unsubstantiated and denied by both Cuba and China.
Furthermore,
the U.S., the country that operates the torture detention centre
in
Guantanamo, absurdly justifies its illegal sanctions regime by
accusing
Cuba of persecuting and torturing political opponents and
actively
spreading communist ideology across the region while repressing
its
people.
As of January 2025, the U.S. had detained at least 780 people
from 48
countries at its Guantanamo prison and torture camp, without
charge or
trial. At least nine detainees have died while in custody,
outside the
bounds of U.S. laws and beyond the reach of media or rule of law
of any
kind.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in an attempt to divert from U.S. failure to take over Iran and prevail in the Strait of Hormuz, has also once again threatened military action against Cuba. As the U.S. aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln, the largest in the world, is limping back from deployment in the Persian Gulf, incapable of carrying out its mission as part of the attempted U.S. naval blockade of Iran, Trump declared it could be redeployed to "taking over [Cuba] almost immediately." Trump made the following absurd statement: "Now Cuba's got problems [...] on the way back from Iran, we'll have one of our big, maybe the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier -- the biggest in the world, will have that come in. Stop about 100 yards offshore, and they'll say, 'thank you very much. We give up.'"
It is a typical Trump statement, as absurd as it is meaningless. The answer to his threat was given over a century ago, in 1885, when Antonio Maceo, the "Bronze Titan" and hero of the Cuban wars of independence, said, "Whoever tries to take power over Cuba will only get the dust of its soil, drenched in blood, if he doesn't perish in the struggle." It has been reiterated time and time again up to today. In a recent interview with NBC News, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel repeated that he won't resign (as demanded by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio). In the face of constant U.S. threats of "taking over" Cuba and forcing the President's resignation, Díaz-Canel said, "I have no fear. I am willing to give my life for the Revolution." He also said that his government is able to resist pressure from the cut-off of oil supplies and to defend Cuba from a U.S. military attack. He reiterated that Cuba wants a dialogue with the United States, peace and an agreement to "move away from confrontation."
As concerns Trump's reference to
the USS Abraham Lincoln,
it is known that the aircraft carrier had to be withdrawn from
the
naval blockade of Iran due to operating systems failures.
Nonetheless,
CPC(M-L) calls on Canadians and Quebeckers to take the U.S.
threat of
military aggression
against Cuba seriously. Besides the lawless actions of the U.S.
administration, Marco Rubio himself is driven by a savage spirit
of
revenge to make Cuba pay for refusing to submit to U.S. dictate.
The
U.S. continues to escalate its hostile blockade and illegal
sanctions
regime against Cuba under the
most preposterous unsubstantiated claim that Cuba's socialist
system is
a threat to U.S. national security and it is important to unite
Canadians and Quebeckers behind the demand that the government
of
Canada not conciliate with the sanctions in any way, shape or
form or
reiterate the U.S.
fabricated justifications which it claims warrant the sanctions
and
aggression against Cuba.
All Out to Defend Revolutionary Cuba!
Hands Off Cuba! End the Blockade Now!
Ottawa, May 1, 2026
(Photos: TML, YDR)
This article was published in
Volume 56
Number 30 - May 5, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T560301.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca