Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has accused the US of escalating pressure on the island nation through economic measures.
"The (US) government insists in hinting at a military action against (Cuba) because 'the country is devastated ... and it would be an honor to liberate it," Rodriguez said on X on Tuesday.
"The cynical and hypocritical thing about it is that the US has, for decades, tried to devastate the country by imposing an economic warfare; and that government has been doing so with greater zeal during the last two months through the adoption of two genocidal Executive Orders," he said.
Rodriguez said that both the economic restrictions and any potential military action would violate international law, describing them as "international crimes."
"Both the economic blockade and energy siege, as well as the new extraterritorial coercive measures, the threat of a military attack, and the aggression itself are international crimes," he added.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday denied that Washington is imposing an oil blockade on Cuba, despite US threats to impose tariffs on any nation that sells oil to the island nation.
"There's no oil blockade on Cuba, per se," Rubio said at a news briefing.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Rubio said that the status quo in Cuba is unacceptable, and the US will address it, but not today.
