Feb. 14, 2026

Cuba’s emergency measures should be seen as crucial test for the BRICS bloc of developing nations, according to Helen Yaffe, a Cuba expert and professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

“This is probably the most important test now for BRICS … If BRICS cannot protect, defend and rally around a member, then what is it worth?” Yaffe told CNBC by telephone.

Cuba acquired “partner country” status of the BRICS group in January last year, bolstering its ties with the likes of Brazil, Russia and China. Indeed, each of these three countries have sought to offer support to Cuba in recent days.

“The Cuban government is not going to submit,” Yaffe said. “The fact is, [the U.S. is] going to keep squeezing and the Cubans are going to keep resisting and there’s going to be a lot of unnecessary suffering.”

She added: “I’m a historian and it’s very vainglorious for historians to try and predict the future but we can look at trends — and I can guarantee you that we were here before in the early 1990s where nobody thought Cuba would pull together and pull through — and they did.”