Carney must condemn the U.S. piracy of fuel shipments to Cuba and defend the Cuban people at the UN
The Communist Party of Canada vehemently condemns the recent acts of piracy carried out against fuel shipments destined for Cuba by the United States’ government. These interceptions and seizures in international waters constitute a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereign right of nations to trade freely.
The Cuban government has rightly characterized these acts as illegal, immoral and criminal, aimed at imposing collective punishment on the Cuban people. We note that the Cuban government was not involved in the 90 fuel shipments seized by U.S. authorities exposing the hypocrisy of Marco Rubio’s lies: even shipments destined for private Cuban businesses are being intercepted and criminalized. The blockade on fuel supplies is an act of war designed to strangle the Cuban people in a vain attempt to destroy their socialist revolution.
The Carney government’s refusal to speak out against this aggression is a betrayal. It is a betrayal of the millions of Canadians who travel to Cuba regularly, who have friends and family on the island, and who understand that the Cuban people are enduring intense hardship. It is also a betrayal of the 10 million Cubans who are suffering under a siege that has caused infant mortality to rise to 9.9 per 1,000 live births in 2025, up from 4.0 in 2018 before the first Trump administration started escalating the blockade. This is the human cost of the Canadian government’s inaction.
As the United Nations General Assembly prepares to vote at the end of this month on the resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” Canada must remain on the side of international law and defend states’ rights to sovereignty. This comes after the Carney government shamefully abstained this summer on the July 7th United Nations General Assembly vote on whether to proceed with a debate on the U.S. embargo against Cuba. While 136 countries voted in favour of holding the debate in an overwhelming rejection of Washington’s bullying, Canada abstained, joining the United States and just 38 others in either opposing or sitting on the fence. In 2025, 165 countries voted to condemn the blockade. Canada must not allow itself to be used as an instrument of U.S. blackmail.
The defence of the Cuban Revolution is a global class imperative. Solidarity with Cuba is solidarity with workers everywhere who dare to build a better world free from imperialist domination.
Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada