Seoul Gazette - Cuban Diplomat Warns U.S. Blockade Is Severing People-to-People Ties

Gabriela Castillo, a second secretary at the Cuban Embassy in the United States, has issued a stark warning that the ongoing U.S. blockade against Cuba is systematically dismantling the human connections, cultural exchanges, and historical solidarities that have long linked the two neighboring nations.

In a detailed reflection on the shifting landscape of bilateral relations, Castillo argued that recent policy decisions are not merely political adjustments but are actively destroying the infrastructure of friendship and cooperation between Cuban and American societies. She emphasized that the current trajectory risks leaving future generations with a legacy of mistrust and separation rather than understanding.

Castillo’s commentary draws heavily on personal experience to illustrate the tangible impact of these policies. She recalled a specific moment in 2014, when she was a university student, and the Semester at Sea program brought a group of U.S. students to Cuba for an academic and cultural exchange. It was the first such visit in nearly a decade, occurring shortly after the historic announcement on December 17, 2014, that signaled a potential thaw in relations between Washington and Havana.

She vividly described a basketball game between the visiting American students and her Cuban university team. While she noted with humor that the Cuban team won, Castillo stressed that the score was secondary to the atmosphere of the event. She remembered the noise, laughter, and natural curiosity that allowed young people from two countries with different histories to share a space freely.

"If someone had told me that day that, more than a decade later, we would look back with such nostalgia on something as simple as a basketball game between Cuban and U.S. students, I probably would have thought they were exaggerating," Castillo wrote. "How could we have imagined that something as natural as meeting, talking and spending time together could once again become so difficult?"

The opening in 2014 had created expectations that extended far beyond political dialogue. The reopening of embassies, the expansion of academic exchanges, and the return of direct flights fostered a sense that a different kind of relationship was possible—one where disagreements did not need to serve as permanent roadblocks to cooperation.

However, Castillo noted that this momentum began to unravel during the first term of former President Donald Trump, as restrictions piled up and opportunities diminished. She argued that the current administration has accelerated this reversal, moving beyond pressure on Cuba’s access to energy and financial resources to target third countries, companies, institutions, and individuals who maintain ties with the island.

On January 29, Castillo pointed out, President Trump signed Executive Order 14380, declaring Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and foreign policy. She characterized this designation as a significant claim regarding a small neighboring country that has never attacked the United States and poses no military threat.

The consequences of this order, she explained, extended well beyond political rhetoric. It paved the way for additional tariffs on products from countries supplying oil to Cuba, either directly or indirectly. This mechanism was designed not only to pressure Havana but to send a warning to other nations that doing business with the island could incur significant costs.

Subsequent measures have further tightened the noose. On May 1, Executive Order 14404 expanded sanctions, granting the U.S. government greater authority to target foreign individuals and companies engaged in business with Cuban entities in sectors such as energy, mining, finance, and construction. Restrictions have also been imposed on Cuban officials, banks, and businesses involved in oil supplies and strategic sectors like nickel.

Regulatory changes have created new obstacles for holding professional meetings and conferences in Cuba, while simultaneously hindering the financial operations of small Cuban private business owners. Castillo observed that the message is clear: maintaining economic, professional, or institutional ties with Cuba is becoming an increasingly risky endeavor, even for non-U.S. citizens not directly subject to Washington’s decisions.

Beyond the geopolitical implications, Castillo focused on the human cost of these measures. She described scenarios involving professors unable to organize academic exchanges, students losing the chance to experience Cuba firsthand, and researchers facing new roadblocks in joint projects. Small business owners, she noted, are losing access to banking channels essential for their survival.

"We’re not just talking about distant political decisions," Castillo stated. "We’re talking about real opportunities, relationships built over many years and people who simply want to get to know one another, work together and share what they know."

The intersection of these restrictions with measures aimed at preventing oil supplies from reaching Cuba has had severe humanitarian consequences. Castillo argued that cutting a country off from energy resources affects the everyday lives of millions, including homes, schools, and hospitals that require electricity, as well as families needing food and clean water.

She highlighted that patients depend on medicines, medical equipment, and treatments that are now harder to secure. The hardships caused by these policies have worsened already troubling indicators, including infant mortality rates and survival rates among children with cancer. Cuban families, she said, are facing the heartbreaking reality of being unable to guarantee their children the necessary medicines and treatments.

"If the stated goal is supposedly to support the Cuban people, how can that possibly be achieved by restricting the very things people need to live, develop and overcome their difficulties?" Castillo asked. "When the consequences of a policy fall on an entire population, including its most vulnerable members, it’s only fair to ask: How is this anything other than collective punishment?"

Castillo also addressed another critical dimension of the isolation effort: its impact on the longstanding ties between Cuba and African American communities. As a Black Cuban woman, she described her identity as shaped by a history that extends beyond national borders.

She outlined a relationship between the two peoples that existed long before her diplomatic career and one she believes will endure long after. Their connection is rooted in shared African heritage, the memory of slavery and resistance to it, cultural and religious traditions, music, literature, and a long history of struggles for dignity, equality, and recognition of rights.

Throughout history, Cuban and African American intellectuals, artists, writers, and revolutionaries have found reasons to come together, recognizing one another and standing in solidarity. These connections, Castillo argued, were built on shared historical experiences and common concerns rather than fleeting political moments.

She emphasized that the fight against racism and racial discrimination in Cuba involves acknowledging the legacy of centuries of slavery, colonialism, and exclusion, while working to overcome existing inequalities. This does not mean ignoring challenges or pretending that the experiences of Afro-descendant communities in Cuba and African American communities in the United States are identical; each society has its own history, contradictions, and realities.

"And that’s precisely why we need more spaces to talk, exchange experiences and learn from one another," she said. "Young African Americans should have the opportunity to get to know Cuba beyond the headlines, connect with its communities, discover its diversity and form their own opinions."

Castillo shared a personal experience from her work at the embassy, specifically a visit to Oakland, California. She described the city as having a deep African American identity and a strong cultural spirit that felt familiar despite being thousands of miles from Cuba. In Oakland, she said she could recognize parts of her own history, roots, and identity in the people she met.

"In a way, I felt that I could breathe in my own identity, even so far from home," Castillo recalled. "That experience reminded me that these connections are not abstract ideas or diplomatic goals. They are human bonds that allow us to recognize ourselves in one another, learn from each other and feel a little less distant."

She concluded that such connections must not become casualties of what she described as an outdated and cruel U.S. policy: the blockade. Normalization, she argued, is not about making concessions but recognizing the right of neighboring countries to have a relationship.

Standing up for normalization does not mean ignoring problems in either country. Cuba has its own challenges, difficulties, and contradictions, which Castillo said must be acknowledged as part of an honest conversation about reality and commitment to improvement. However, she insisted that it is up to the Cuban people alone, in the full exercise of their sovereignty, to decide how to face these problems, set priorities, and build their future.

"None of those difficulties justifies a blockade that holds back our development, collectively punishes our people and limits our opportunities," Castillo stated. "Problems and differences cannot be solved through coercion or outside pressure. They must be addressed by respecting every people’s right to decide their own future."

She called for a foundation of good-neighbor relations based on respect for sovereignty, noninterference, dialogue, and the recognition of both peoples’ right to build relationships with one another. Normalization should not be treated as a concession dependent on political interests but as a necessary alternative to a history of confrontation that has repeatedly demonstrated high human costs.

The opening in 2014 was not one people making a concession to the other, she argued, but a recognition that another path was possible. Getting back to that path does not mean forgetting history or giving up differences; it requires the political will not to let those differences obstruct cooperation and understanding.

Reflecting on the 2014 basketball game again, Castillo expressed hope that younger generations of Cubans and Americans could have similar experiences. She wanted them to meet, debate, play, make friends, and discover how much they can learn from one another. She also hoped to see younger generations of African Americans and Cubans continue building bridges, recognizing themselves in a shared history, and contributing their own ideas to a future built on greater understanding.

"Because we are not enemies," Castillo wrote. "We are neighboring peoples, with intertwined histories and so much to share."

She noted that while her university team won the game in 2014, she believed everyone won something more important: the chance to meet one another. She concluded that it would be a tremendous loss if future generations were to forget what that means.

R.Seon--SG