UN Warns U.S. Oil Blockade Has Severe Impact On Cubans’ Human Rights

Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, questions how Cuba can overcome its current crisis while facing some of the most severe sanctions in the world.

According to Hurtado, decades-long sanctions, recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments, and extreme weather events are converging into a nationwide emergency.

Fuel shortages are disrupting hospitals, intensive care units, vaccine storage, water-pumping systems and food distribution. More than 80% of Cuba’s water infrastructure depends on electricity, and rolling blackouts are undermining access to clean water, sanitation and basic healthcare.

Hurtado’s remarks highlight a growing concern inside UN institutions about the humanitarian impact of sanctions and the limits they impose on a country’s ability to respond to economic and social emergencies.

TRANSCRIPT

“We are extremely worried about Cuba's deepening socio-economic crisis amid a decades-long financial trade embargo, extreme weather events and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments,” said Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“This is having an increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba,” the UN spokesperson added.

“Given the dependence of health, food and water systems on imported fossil fuels, the current oil scarcity has put the availability of essential services at risk nationwide,” Hurtado explained.

“Intensive care units and emergency rooms are compromised, as are the production, delivery and storage of vaccines, blood products and other temperature-sensitive medications,” she said.

“In Cuba, more than 80% of water-pumping equipment depends on electricity, and power cuts are undermining access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene,” the spokesperson warned.

“The fuel shortage has disrupted the rationing system and the regulated basic food basket and has affected social protection networks, school feeding, maternity homes and nursing homes, with the most vulnerable groups being disproportionately impacted,” Hurtado stated.

“Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“He reiterates his call on all states to lift unilateral sectorial measures, given their broad and indiscriminate impact on the population,” Türk emphasized.