JAKARTA - Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla accused the United States of increasing economic pressure on the island nation.
"The government (US) continues to hint at the possibility of military action against (Cuba) because 'the country is destroyed'... and it would be an honor to liberate it," Rodriguez quipped on the X platform as reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Wednesday, May 5.
"The cynical and hypocritical thing about (this action) is that the US has been trying to destroy the country for decades by waging an economic war; and the government did so with greater zeal in the last two months through the implementation of two genocidal Executive Orders," he said.
Rodriguez said economic restrictions as well as possible military action would violate international law and constitute "international crimes."
"Both economic blockades and energy blockades and new extraterritorial coercive measures; the threat of military attack and aggression itself are international crimes," he said.
On the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that his government was imposing an oil blockade on Cuba even though the US threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sold oil to Cuba.
"There is no oil blockade against Cuba, specifically," Rubio said at a news conference.
Cuba is currently facing a fuel crisis and widespread power outages after the US imposed an oil embargo on January 30.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Cuba is the "next" target after military operations against Iran. He also said the Caribbean country would soon "fail."
In a separate statement, Rodriguez rejected Rubio's claim that there was no oil blockade against Cuba.
"He chose to lie. He is at odds with the President and the White House Press Secretary," he said.
He pointed to Trump's executive order on January 29, which he said threatened fuel-exporting countries to Cuba with tariffs. Rodriguez argued that the move had drastically hampered fuel supplies to the country.
"In four months, only one tanker of fuel arrived in Cuba. All our suppliers were intimidated and threatened, which violates the rules of free trade and freedom of navigation," he said.
Rodriguez also alluded to Trump's executive order on May 1 establishing secondary sanctions in the energy sector, which further tightened Cuba's access to fuel.
"The foreign minister understands very well the impact and suffering caused by the criminal oil blockade on the Cuban people at this time, which he proposed to his president himself," said Rodriguez.
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