Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
On December 10, 2025, US military forces rapelled onto an oil tanker while it sailed in international waters in the Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coasts.
This act of piracy and maritime terrorism is a serious violation of International Law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. The US government is responsible for the commission of these crimes, which are harmful to the international community as a whole
This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela’s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba.
During the first mandate of Donald Trump, several measures were adopted to hinder the free trade of Venezuela’s oil resources, and the vessels carrying fuel to our country were subject to persecution. This situation persists and has been worsened now with the use of military force in an attempt to impose the US domain on Our America.
These actions have a negative effect on Cuba and further tighten the US maximum pressure and economic suffocation policy, which has a direct impact on Cuba’s national power system and, consequently, on the everyday life of our people.
This obvious act of application of Trump’s corollary of the Monroe Doctrine violates the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and requires a universal condemnation.
Havana, December 12, 2025.
