Cuba accuses US of “devastating humanitarian consequences”

 Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States on Monday of disrupting the island’s foreign trade through threats, pressure, and blackmail, causing devastating humanitarian consequences for the Caribbean nation.

“As a result,” he said, “7,000 containers remain detained in various ports around the world, with cargo previously contracted and paid for in accordance with international trade regulations.”

“ They mostly contain food, medicine, and medical devices,” the Cuban foreign minister stated on social media.

Rodríguez emphasized that “the sole objective of preventing their arrival in Cuba is to intensify the collective punishment that the U.S. government is imposing on the Cuban people.”

Meanwhile, the two international shipping companies that maintained operations with the island, the German Hapag-Lloyd and the French CMA CGM, announced in May that they had stopped accepting new orders related to Cuba, citing compliance with the U.S. embargo.

However, at the beginning of this month, CMA CGM  partially resumed services, but only for food, medicine, and medical supplies.

The day before, the Cuban Foreign Minister, speaking at the 18th BRICS Summit, denounced the intensification of the economic blockade, the energy embargo, and the secondary sanctions imposed by the United States, “as well as the threats of military aggression looming over the island.”