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The Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel responded this Wednesday to the statements of the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who described the government of Havana as a "failed state" run by "incompetent communists" and denied the existence of a petroleum embargo against the island.
Rubio made these statements last Monday from the podium of the White House, where he asserted: "There is no oil blockade against Cuba, per se," and attributed the Cuban energy crisis to the end of Venezuelan subsidies, rather than to Washington's policies. He also claimed that Cuba resold approximately 60% of the oil it received from Venezuela "for cash, with no benefit to the population."
Díaz-Canel described it as surprising that Rubio denied the existence of the oil embargo without being aware of "what is stipulated in the Executive Order of his own president from January 29."
That order, Executive 14380, was signed by Trump on January 29, 2026 and declared the Cuban government an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the national security of the U.S., imposing secondary tariffs on any country, company, or entity that exports oil or its derivatives to Cuba.
"It is equally surprising that he blames the supposed incompetence of Cubans for the difficulties facing the economy, which the U.S. government has set out to destroy, investing substantial resources and political capital to achieve it," wrote Díaz-Canel.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla had already responded to Rubio on Wednesday in a more direct tone, accusing him of "simply choosing to lie" and contradicting President Trump and the White House spokesperson themselves, according to the Foreign Minister's statements on the oil blockade.
Rodríguez described Rubio as the "architect" of the energy blockade and stated that the secretary "knows very well the harm and suffering that the criminal oil blockade he himself proposed to his President is causing the Cuban people today."
The energy crisis facing Cuba in 2026 is reflected in outages of 20 to 25 hours daily across the island, resulting from a reduction of 80-90% in fuel imports.
To the Executive Order from January was added the interruption of Venezuelan supply —ranging from 26,000 to 35,000 barrels per day— following the capture of Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of that month, and the suspension of shipments from Pemex since January 9.
Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged in March that Cuba operated for four months without external fuel imports, an unprecedented situation for the island's economy.
The expression "incompetent communists" was not new coming from Rubio: he had already used it on March 27, 2026 when rejecting economic agreements with Cuba without prior political changes.
On May 1, Trump signed a second executive order that expanded sanctions on all assets linked to the regime in the energy, defense, mining, and finance sectors, further increasing pressure on Havana.
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