The reduction of oil supplies, the refusal to refine Soviet crude oil, and the elimination of the sugar quota were just the beginning of what would become the longest genocide in history.

The Cuban government's willingness to act independently and implement economic and social changes in favor of the majority was considered a true insult, a stumbling block in the path of the empire's supremacist and hegemonic dreams.

It was then, in April 1960, that Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, outlined, in a secret memorandum, the essence of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade that would be imposed unilaterally two years later.

A coldly conceived strategy aimed at plunging the Cuban people into misery, with the aim of making them see the transformative process as unviable and blame their misfortunes on the Revolutionary Government, rather than those truly responsible in Washington.

Through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the US President was authorized to establish and maintain a total "embargo" on trade with Cuba, in addition to prohibiting any type of aid to the island's government. On February 7, 1962, then-President John F. Kennedy, invoking Section 620a of that legal instrument, declared a total blockade against Cuba.

We Cubans know a lot about what happened since then; above all, how, from one administration to another, its monstrosity has been sustained, and, one might even say, how each has placed a distinctive stamp of cruelty on it, as amply demonstrated by the current occupant of the White House.

During Donald Trump's first administration, the policy of hostility reached unprecedented levels. More than 240 actions were recorded to intensify the blockade, designed to generate ungovernability and overthrow the Revolution.

Nothing changed during Biden's term, whose timid positive actions quickly collapsed after Trump's return.

The intention is clear and well known: to switch off much more than our homes. Its ultimate goal is to switch off our dreams, our confidence in the Revolution, and, above all, our freedom.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSi Translation Staff