The country is grappling with severe fuel shortages and blackouts following oil import sanctions imposed this year by the US. Independent UN human rights experts on Thursday condemned a fresh round of US sanctions against Cuba, calling them an attempt to force change on “a sovereign State through threats and coercion.” Washington has widened unilateral sanctions on key sectors of the Cuban economy since June 2026. Energy, transport, irrigation and basic services are breaking down at once, the experts said, hitting women, children, older people and rural farmers hardest. The measures, they said, breach Article 2 of the UN Charter and form part of a broader regime-change strategy that also encompasses the decades-old US embargo on Cuba.