The Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the podium at the White House this Tuesday and delivered a strong message about Cuba that dismantles one of the regime's favorite arguments: the alleged U.S. oil blockade.
In a press conference that made high-impact statements, Rubio —in place of the press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave after giving birth to her second child— was straightforward.
"There is no oil blockade against Cuba as such. Cuba used to receive free oil from Venezuela. They were given quite a bit of oil for free. They took about 60% of that oil and resold it for money. It didn't even benefit the people," he emphasized.
The Secretary of State explained that the only real "blockade" was Venezuela's decision to stop providing oil to the island: "You can imagine that nowadays, with oil prices, no one is giving away oil, much less to a failed regime."
Rubio did not stop there. He described the Cuban government as a "failed state" and its leaders as "incompetent communists," reiterating a phrase he had used in March: "The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist. And that’s what we have: incompetent communists running that country. They don’t know how to fix it. They really don’t know."
The Secretary of State framed the situation as a national security issue for Washington: "We have, just 90 miles from our shores, a failed state that is also favorable territory for some of our adversaries. So it is an unacceptable situation, and we will address it, but not today."
Although no specific measures were announced, his warning was unequivocal: “Things are going to change”.
The energy context described by Rubio is verifiable. The supply of Venezuelan oil to Cuba collapsed in January 2026, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, leaving the island with reserves estimated at just four days' worth of consumption.
Russian oil, which arrived as a partial alternative, barely covers 10% of Cuba's energy needs, resulting in power outages of up to 25 hours a day in over 55% of the territory.
Rubio's statements come just four days after Trump signed a new executive order that expands sanctions against the regime in the energy, defense, mining, and finance sectors, including secondary sanctions on foreign banks that conduct business with sanctioned Cuban entities.
On Tuesday, Trump also reiterated that he has "an obligation to do something for Cuba" having obtained, according to him, 94% of the Cuban vote, while again mentioning the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier as a point of pressure.
The regime responds with confrontational rhetoric. This past Sunday, Miguel Díaz-Canel invoked the doctrine of the "War of All the People" and warned of an alleged imminent military aggression from the United States, declaring that "every Cuban man and woman has a rifle."
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