“There are foreign companies that have yielded to this pressure and have withdrawn from the country. Others remain and continue working with us,” the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

According to Pérez-Oliva, the intensification of the blockade has severed Cuba’s banking and financial relations with numerous institutions and imposes a trade embargo through direct threats against international shipping companies.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment explained that Cuba has containers being held in international ports because some shipping companies have suspended services to the island, while others are operating under “restrictions imposed illegally and unilaterally by the United States.”