Cuba

Washington escalated a multi-instrument sanctions campaign at unprecedented pace through 2026: EO 14380 (29 January) opened secondary tariffs on fuel suppliers, EO 14404 (1 May) began personal designations that reached President Díaz-Canel by 4 June, and OFAC sanctioned CUPET, the state oil company, on 11 June, blocking every licensed fuel-import route. The National Assembly answered with a 176-measure market-opening reform on 18 June, the deepest since the 1960s nationalisations, but economist Pedro Monreal identified four inputs it needs, energy, foreign currency, technology and external demand, each blocked by the same sanctions architecture.

On 13 July the State Department designated ten more entities, its largest single-day batch since May, reaching the tourism ministry for the first time; Cuba raised bottled cooking-gas prices 64 per cent three days later.

Cuba's ageing thermal fleet, starved of fuel by the CUPET sanction, failed completely twice in a week: Nuevitas on 6 July Left Matanzas dark for up to 87 hours, and a single transmission-line fault near Santa Clara blacked out the whole island on 10 July, the third and fourth total collapses of 2026. The Felton plant tripped again on 14 July, widening the deficit; the grid operator's own 16 July bulletin forecast a 2,240 MW shortfall against just 990 MW available.

The UN assessed in April that a substantial share of Cuba's population, across 8 provinces, needed urgent humanitarian assistance, with a third of that appeal still unfunded. Each repair now buys the fleet only months before the next total failure.

Prisoners Defenders' census recorded 1,281 political prisoners in June 2026 and 1,306 by 9 July, the fifth anniversary of the 2021 protests, including 40 detained minors for the first time. OCDH's half-year report counted 1,949 repressive actions from January to June, with the monthly total climbing every month.

Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was taken from Guanajay prison on 8 July, a day before his five-year sentence was due to end; State Security telephoned an exiled activist on 9 July, the day his sentence formally expired, to ask about his US parole application. OCDH's 14 July opinion named the specific offices it holds responsible for his continued detention, a claim the Cuban government has not answered.