Cuba Envoy In India Slams US Tariffs, Says No Country Has Right To Impose Them

Cuba’s Ambassador to India Juan Carlos Marsán Aguilera has criticised the United States’ tariff policy, saying no country has the right to impose tariffs on others for political reasons, as Havana faces a deepening economic and energy crisis.

Speaking during a two day visit to Odisha, Aguilera said Cuba opposed what he called the “world tariff” imposed by the US administration.

“We are against this world tariff that has been imposed by this US administration. Nobody has the right to impose these tariffs on other countries for political reasons,” he said.

The envoy also criticised Washington’s efforts to restrict trade between Russia and the rest of the world.

“They don’t have the right to do that unilaterally,” Aguilera said.

His comments came shortly after President Donald Trump signed a Russia sanctions law that gives his administration powers to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on major buyers of Russian oil and gas. India and China are among countries that could be affected, although the law does not automatically impose such tariffs on them.

Aguilera’s remarks also came as Cuba endured another major electricity crisis. A nationwide blackout on Friday left millions without power after a failure in transmission lines triggered a wider grid collapse. Cuba’s authorities also cited unstable weather conditions. The outage was described by Cuban and international reports as the seventh major blackout of 2026, although some reports have counted six major grid collapses since January.

Only about five per cent of Havana’s electricity users had power restored on Friday evening. The crisis has been worsened by fuel shortages and the ageing condition of Cuba’s power infrastructure. Havana blames US measures for aggravating the shortages, while Washington points to Cuba’s domestic economic management.

By Saturday, Cuba had begun reconnecting the national grid. Aguilera separately said Cuba would not allow its independence and sovereignty to be compromised, while stressing that relations with India remain cordial and are expected to grow stronger.

He said Cuba opposed exploitation, imperialism and the misuse of power, and accused Washington of using force in Venezuela to gain control of its oil.

Aguilera also highlighted Cuba’s “intellectual wealth”, pointing to literacy and public education as foundations of national development.

On India, he expressed gratitude for New Delhi’s support and highlighted Cuba’s status as a BRICS partner country, saying the two countries have worked together within the grouping across several areas.