UN slams US blockade on Cuba, warns 'children are dying'
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has raised the alarm on the humanitarian repercussions of the US pressure campaign against Cuba, warning that children are dying there due to the illegal blockade imposed on the island state by the United States.
The US blockade, coupled with sanctions that punish companies from any country doing business with Cuba, has created an energy crisis and the worst economic collapse the island has seen in decades.
The restrictions have left the island's power system in crisis, while the supply of food, running water and medicine is running short. In some areas, including neighborhoods in the capital Havana, residents have been without power for tens of hours at a time in recent days.
US President Donald Trump has announced that he demands "regime change" in Cuba, declaring that he aims to mount pressure on the nearby nation until its ruling 87-year-old leftist government breaks and is toppled.
However, the increased economic pressure on Cuba has led to a spike in the island's infant mortality rate.
Turk said this week that the illegal restrictions slapped on Cuba have crippled medical services, sparking a large increase in the number of children dying on the island. Turk warned that strict measures on Cuba have led to a spike in infant mortality and plummeting survival rates for child cancer patients.
"The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable," Turk, an Austrian lawyer, said on Monday.
"Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines. This is unacceptable. These sanctions must be lifted immediately."
The Trump administration abducted leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, cutting off the Latin American country's oil exports to Cuba.
Venezuela had been the main supplier of oil to Cuba.
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