The Threat Is Not Cuba: It Is
US Sanctions and the Policies of War
World BEYOND War

https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-threat-is-not-cuba-it-is-the-sanctions-and-the-policies-of-war-la-amenaza-no-es-cuba-son-las-sanciones-y-la-politicas-de-guerra/

(August 4, 2026) —The threat is not Cuba: it is the sanctions and the policies of war.

We recently saw the publication of a 99-page State Department report, titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st-Century Communism,” which once again prioritizes a policy of confrontation, with a Monroe Doctrine-inspired view of U.S.-Cuba relations. The central theme of this document is to try to convince its readers that Cuba represents a threat to the United States.

Once again, we have seen reflected in this document the policies of the 1950s in the United States, promoted by Joseph McCarthy, characterized by the persecution and harassment of pacifist movements and mainstream dissidents. This policy, applied for several decades, served as the basis for guilt by association, as well as the use of fear surrounding the internal/external enemy thesis, something very commonly employed in various countries to justify the militarization of their territories.

To claim that internal mobilizations in the United States—from social movements, anti-racist groups, progressive organizations, university protests, and solidarity groups with Palestine, to pacifist movements opposing war—are the result of foreign interference is simply implausible.

This document fails to acknowledge the negative impact of the sanctions and blockade against Cuba, which has lasted for over 60 years and has subjected the country’s population to all kinds of shortages, depriving them of resources necessary for the very existence of the Cuban people. Recently, we have seen a new package of sanctions against solidarity organizations such as ICAP.

Nor is there any mention of the extensive history of threats of war and the promotion of military action against the country, all of which share a common factor: they have come solely from the United States. Similarly, the document makes no mention of the Guantanamo military base, which continues to be illegally occupied by the U.S. on Cuban territory against the will of its people.

We join our voices with the voices of hundreds of countries at the United Nations General Assembly, who continue to declare that the blockade is criminal and threatens the lives of millions of people, and with the voices of thousands of organizations around the world mobilizing in solidarity with Cuba.

Our pacifist commitment compels us to raise our voices so that war, death, and the suffering of millions of people do not determine the future of the Cuban people, but rather the possibility of building their future independently, without threats, and without violating their right to self-determination.

Let us stop this new crusade against a people who have offered humanity only solidarity and the defense of life. Let us reject all attempts to criminalize the voices that oppose the war and demand a future of peace, solidarity, and social justice.