The Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., estimated on Thursday that the cost of the U.S. blockade to Cuba between March 2025 and February 2026 amounted to $8 billion.

Earlier this month, the Treasury Department imposed further sanctions on Cuban oil tankers and shipping companies and threatened to target any international entity or person doing business within its marine or maritime industries as part of a push “to end the Cuban regime’s malign activities, both in Cuba and across our hemisphere.”

Cuba’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., said these steps “deepen an energy siege that already leaves hospitals without reliable power and families facing blackouts. The blockade is not targeted at a government. It is collective punishment that hits ordinary people every day.”