A pan-African group, the New African Charter International (NACI), has condemned what it calls US threats to invade Cuba and kidnap its leaders, urging the African Union to defend Havana.
In a statement dated May 31 and signed by its founder and co-president, Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh, NACI accused Washington of seeking regime change in Cuba and likened the threats to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was seized in a military operation in January and flown to the United States to face narcoterrorism charges.
“Touch Cuba, you touch Africa and the progressive world,” the statement said, calling on the African Union (AU) to stand with the Cuban people against what it described as imperialist pressure.
The group set out six demands, among them an immediate end to the decades old US embargo and a recent fuel blockade, a halt to invasion and kidnapping threats, the withdrawal of US forces from Guantanamo Bay, and full respect for Cuba’s sovereignty.
The statement comes amid a sharp US escalation. President Donald Trump’s administration issued Executive Order 14404 on May 1 imposing fresh sanctions, and US prosecutors last month indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by Miami based exiles. Trump has said repeatedly that regime change in Cuba is only a matter of time.
Washington frames the pressure as a national security matter. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States prefers a negotiated settlement but has not ruled out force, while Cuba’s government has rejected the accusations and accused Washington of manufacturing a pretext for aggression.
