Cuba has released its annual report on the impact of U.S. sanctions on the island's economy. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the damages amount to $7.5 billion, the single biggest loss in a year since Cuba began issuing these reports.
Also:
- Farm near Havana pioneers agroecology
- Cuba wins gold at the Tokyo Athletics World Championships
- Almost 1,000 same-sex marriages in Cuba last year
- Cuban reggaeton artist returns home after emigrating to U.S.
- Cuba extends tax exemptions on medicine and food imports
- Millions of Cubans struggle to get water
U.S. Sanctions Cost Cuba $7.5 Billion in One Year
Last week, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez presented the government's annual report on the impact of U.S. sanctions, which estimated losses to Cuba from March 2024 to February 2025 at $7.5 billion.
The report accuses the U.S. government of “surgically and systematically” targeting the main sources of revenue for the Cuban economy.
The impact of sanctions during this period was nearly 50% more than that of the previous year.
The report lists the following examples of how U.S. policy has damaged Cuba's economy:
- Cuba's inclusion on the U.S. government's “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list
- Helms-Burton Title III lawsuits in U.S. courts against companies investing in Cuba
- Sanctions and threats against companies supplying fuel
- Sanctions that block financial transactions
- The U.S. government’s campaign targeting Cuba’s international medical cooperation
- U.S. efforts to stop tourists from visiting the island
The report will be attached to a resolution presented to the United Nations next month calling on the world to condemn U.S. sanctions. For the last three decades, Cuba has presented the resolution at the UN with almost identical results each year: nearly every country in the world calls for the U.S. to end its embargo on Cuba…except the U.S. and Israel.
Agroecology Farm Near Havana Shows the Way
Just outside Havana, Finca Marta is pioneering agroecology by blending traditional knowledge with innovation.
Watch our video about the farm, which produces organic food, restores ecosystems and builds community resilience.
This is the second video in our four-part series on Cuban agroecology. On October 8, check out the YouTube premiere of Our Agroecology, Our Future, a documentary we produced in collaboration with the Caribbean Agroecology Institute.
Cuba Wins Gold in Tokyo
Cuban athlete Leyanis Pérez won gold in women’s triple jump at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships with a leap of 14.94 meters – the best mark of the year so far.
The event is the most important competition in athletics after the Olympics. Cuba ranks eighth in the all-time medals table, kept ever since the event started in 1976.
With Leyanis Pérez’s gold in addition to two bronzes, Cuba finished 16th this year. Silinda Morales won bronze in the women’s discus. And Lázaro Martínez won bronze in the men’s triple jump, where the gold went to Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who was born in Cuba but now represents Portugal.
Step Into the Stories You've Been Watching!
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In Other News
Almost a thousand same-sex marriages in Cuba last year. Almost 1,000 same-sex couples were married in Cuba in 2024, Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information reported (in Spanish) last week. Cuba legalized same-sex marriage and adoption through the 2022 Family Code, one of the most progressive pieces of family law legislation in the hemisphere. This July, Cuba also approved a new law that grants people the right to legally change their gender without a gender-affirming surgery.
Cuba reggaeton artist abandons Miami. Cuban singer El Micha says he has returned to Cuba because he has been unhappy with his life in Florida. "I don't want to keep paying bills," he said on the SePoneWeno podcast (in Spanish). "I'm going to Cuba where people are affectionate, people love you. It's my home. It's my country."
Cuba extends tax exemptions on medicine and food. Cuba extended (in Spanish) tax exemptions for imported medicine and food for non-commercial purposes last week. The exemptions were introduced amid widespread shortages during the Covid pandemic and have been extended ever since. The current extension applies until January 21, 2026.
Millions of Cubans struggle for water. The water supply for more than 3.1 million Cubans throughout the island is “totally or partially affected,” a report (in Spanish) on Cuban state television said last week. The report cited droughts, breakdowns of pumping equipment and Cuba’s fuel crisis as causes.
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