South African Priest Accuses US of Inflicting ’Genocide Without Bombs’ on Cuba

By Staff, Agencies

South African Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley has accused the United States of inflicting "a genocide without bombs" on Cuba through sanctions that he says are causing severe shortages and worsening the island's humanitarian crisis.

Lapsley made the allegation after returning from Havana, where he said he observed dire conditions and few vehicles on the roads because of severe fuel shortages.

He said Cubans are enduring prolonged electricity outages that prevent water from being pumped, disrupt factories, and hamper the production of medicines.

"The United States is actively strangling Cuba. This is a collective punishment of a whole country since the triumph of the revolution. However, things have become immeasurably worse in the last six months," he told IOL.

Washington has maintained an embargo on Cuba since 1962.

In January, US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over Cuba and moved to restrict its fuel supplies, blocking oil tankers bound for the island and threatening tariffs against countries that continued supplying it.

Cuban Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in May that the country had run out of diesel and fuel oil, leaving it dependent on gas from its own wells. Island-wide blackouts have been reported since March.

Lapsley travelled to Havana earlier this month to attend a colloquium marking the centenary of the birth of Fidel Castro, who led the 1959 Cuban Revolution and ruled the island for almost half a century. Castro died in 2016.

Delegates from 63 countries attended the event, including representatives of South Africa's National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), the South African Communist Party (SACP), and former minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

During an address to the gathering, Lapsley called for an end to the US blockade of Cuba.

Joel Ortega Dopico, president of the Cuban Council of Churches and the Cuban Bible Society, told Lapsley that Washington's restrictions were making it difficult even for countries seeking to assist Cuba.