The Cuban Government Blames Trump for Its Failure To Pay Its Paris Club Creditors

The countries acknowledge the Island’s efforts and highlight the importance of maintaining “the ties achieved”

The Cuban delegation met in the French capital with representatives of the Paris Club. / PL

14ymedio bigger14ymedio / EFE, Havana, January 22, 2026 – The Cuban government met with its main creditors in the Paris Club to take stock of the agreement signed a year earlier to restructure its debt payments.

According to a note in the official press, the delegation, headed by Vice Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva, met in Paris with representatives of more than a dozen countries that acknowledged the Island’s “efforts” to comply with its debt repayment commitments.

The Cuban side laid out the “complex” economic and financial situation facing the Island, which it attributed to six decades of U.S. sanctions, “a policy intensified to unprecedented levels since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.”

The Paris Club agreed with Cuba, the note says, on the importance of maintaining “the constructive ties achieved” over the past year.

In January 2025, the Cuban authorities and the Paris Club agreed to modify the terms of the 2021 and 2015 agreements in light of Cuba’s inability to meet its obligations.

The Cuban authorities and the Paris Club agreed in January 2025 to modify the terms of the 2021 and 2015 agreements in light of Cuba’s inability to meet its obligations

In a statement, the group of creditors indicated that the new pact offered Havana “more favorable conditions to address its economic and financial difficulties in the coming years,” as well as the possibility of “preserving” the financial relations between the parties.

In 2015, Cuba signed a historic agreement with the Paris Club, which forgave $8.5 billion of a total debt of $11 billion, with Havana committing to repay the remaining amount in installments through 2023.

However, following partial defaults in 2019 and 2020, the Island declared itself unable to make the corresponding payments and requested a two-year moratorium on a total of about $200 million in overdue payments. The Paris Club agreed only to delay the deadlines by one year, though with the possibility of renegotiation.

In mid-2021, the parties agreed on an additional extension for the commitments undertaken in 2015, but Cuba’s economy has only continued to deteriorate at a rapid pace.

The Paris Club includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

In addition, the Island has substantial debts with other states, as well as countless private companies from various countries.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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