The Cuban government on Thursday condemned newly announced US sanctions targeting the state-owned oil company, accusing Washington of further tightening its “vengeful” economic and energy grip on the island.
Through its measures imposed on Cupet, the state company responsible for crude oil extraction, refining and production, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said: “US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is further intensifying the economic and energy blockade against Cuba, driven by the vengeful attitude of circles motivated by conquest ambitions, presidential aspirations and political calculations.”
Oscar Perez-Oliva, Cuba’s deputy prime minister in charge of foreign trade and foreign investment, also criticised the move.
“To justify this step, the US State Department relies not on credible arguments but on the ordinary and crude lies spread by the most aggressive, ignorant and enraged sectors of anti-Cuba groups,” he said.
Cupet was recently added to the sanctions list of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), increasing the number of Cuban entities and officials under US sanctions, including President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Rubio – the son of Cuban migrants – claimed that energy resources on the island, like all other resources, have long been used by Cuba’s communist government “as a tool of repression” and to sustain what he described as the regime’s exploitative system of governance.
US-Cuba tensions
On January 30, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on all goods imported from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba.
The White House said the measure was intended to protect US national security and foreign policy interests against what it described as Cuba’s “harmful actions and policies.”
Trump later said Washington would turn its attention to Cuba after Iran, describing it as a “failed state” and arguing that only the US could resolve the country’s political and economic problems.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the US is seeking a “pretext” for military intervention in Cuba, warning that this could turn the region into a “bloodbath.”
