On June 8, 2026, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a declaration condemning Washington’s unrelenting economic war against Cuba, escalated this year with an oil blockade. He called for the immediate lifting of all U.S. sanctions, which are creating dire consequences for the Cuban people. “Such severe sanctions packages that target entire sectors of an economy and produce broad, indiscriminate, and harsh effects on populations are incompatible with basic principles of international human rights law,” Türk said. The declaration published below accurately presents the devastating effects of the blockade of fuel, Trump’s May 1 executive order, and all the other U.S. sanctions designed to suffocate the Cuban economy.