U.N. 'extremely worried' by Cuba crisis

U.N. expresses deep concern over Cuba's escalating crisis amid U.S. oil blockade, impacting human rights and essential services.

The United Nations said on Friday (February 13, 2026) it was deeply alarmed by the crisis unfolding in Cuba as the island nation struggles under what amounts to a U.S. blockade of oil deliveries.

President Donald Trump has vowed to starve Cuba of oil after last month's U.S. military ousting of Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, which had been communist Cuba's main oil supplier.

"We are extremely worried about Cuba's deepening socio-economic crisis — amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments," U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told a media briefing in Geneva.

"This is having an increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba. U.N. rights chief Volker Turk "reiterates his call on all States to lift unilateral sectoral measures, given their broad and indiscriminate impact on the population. Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights," the spokeswoman said.

Ms. Hurtado said that given the dependence of health, food, and water systems on imported fossil fuels, oil scarcity in Cuba had put the availability of essential services at risk.

"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.