The Austrian government must protest against the intensified blockade of Cuba

Declaration by the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA) and the Central Council of the Youth Front, Vienna, 9 May 2026.

On 1 May 2026, whilst millions of people in Cuba were taking to the streets to protest against the US policy of strangulation, US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on the socialist island. In addition to the existing restrictions on Cuba's economic development caused by decades of blockade policy, these new measures further worsen the living conditions of the Cuban people.

The new blockade measures target the energy and oil sectors, the mining and metal industries, the defence and security sectors, and the banking sector. Foreign banks and companies doing business with Cuba face the threat of secondary sanctions. The oil blockade, which has been in place for months, and many other measures, together with the newly imposed sanctions, are intended to force Cuba to abandon its socialist model of society and become a US protectorate, as it was in the pre-revolutionary era. The blockade policy is accompanied by constant threats of a military invasion of Cuba.

Many countries across all continents have condemned this latest tightening of the US blockade policy against Cuba, and some of them have even instructed their companies not to comply with the US sanctions.

The Party of Labour and the Youth Front call on the Austrian Federal Government to protest clearly and unequivocally against the US blockade measures, which contravene international law, and to advocate for the complete lifting of sanctions at every opportunity, particularly within the framework of the UN and the EU. The current double standards in foreign policy – condemning human rights violations only where it suits the interests of US and EU monopolies – constitute a breach of the required neutrality of Austrian foreign policy.

The Party of Labour and the Youth Front express their full solidarity with the people of Cuba. We also assure the Communist Party of Cuba and the Revolutionary Government of our active support in their struggle against US imperialism, against its contempt for humanity and its arrogance!