The Cuban government has released its latest tally of the economic toll taken by the decades-long US trade embargo, putting cumulative losses at $178.7 billion when adjusted for the depreciation of the dollar against gold. Officials in Havana say the figure reflects damage inflicted since the early 1960s, when Washington first imposed sweeping trade and financial restrictions on the island after the Cuban Revolution.
Cuban authorities argue that the embargo—known on the island as “el bloqueo,” or the blockade—continues to choke access to fuel, medicine, food, machinery and international financing, even as third-country companies and banks face penalties for doing business with Cuba. The government contends this extraterritorial reach amplifies the damage far beyond direct US-Cuba trade.
The new estimate is expected to be formally submitted to the United Nations General Assembly, which for more than three decades has voted almost unanimously each year to call on the United States to lift the restrictions, a resolution Washington has consistently opposed or ignored. Cuban officials frame the annual report as part of a broader diplomatic campaign to build international pressure ahead of the vote.
The embargo remains a defining feature of US-Cuba relations, shaping everything from tourism to pharmaceuticals, and its economic and humanitarian impact continues to be fiercely debated. For the full details of Cuba’s accounting, read the original report at jornada.com.mx.
Source: Cuba cifra en 178 mil 700 millones de dólares daños acumulados por bloqueo de EU (jornada.com.mx). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: szeke, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).