The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described in an exclusive interview with Axios the maximum pressure strategy that the Trump administration is implementing against the Cuban regime: a systematic campaign to shut down every mechanism that Havana attempts to use to evade sanctions and buy time.
"What we are trying to teach them is that there is no escape," Rubio stated to the American media.
More than two dozen actions since last year
According to Axios, since last year the Trump administration has taken two dozen different measures to exert pressure on Cuba.
In the group are sanctions against 40 entities, ranging from foreign companies operating on the island to Cuban state conglomerates in fuel, banking, and mining, as well as economic sanctions, visa restrictions, and revocations of residency targeted at least 38 individuals.
This Thursday, the administration announced a new round of sanctions against five Cuban military entities and eight officials, including the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera, for ties to arms purchases from Russia and China.
John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, did not hold back in his assessment: "Trump and Rubio have implemented the most effective sanctions program against a target country than any of their predecessors. We have been here since 1994 and have never seen anything like it," he stated to Axios.
Rubio: Every escape route will be closed off
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero recently announced a greater openness to the private sector.
Marco Rubio believes that the Cuban regime is trying to buy time by pretending to implement reforms while seeking new ways to evade U.S. sanctions.
“Every time they create a new mechanism to try to escape the noose, we simply tighten it,” said the Secretary of State.
"Of course, they can't expect us to give up. This is not going to disappear in the next two and a half years," he added.
The strategy, according to the words of the Secretary of State, does not rely solely on new sanctions, but also on maintaining pressure for as long as necessary.
“One of the things we have lost in U.S. foreign policy and geopolitics is the concept of patience and perseverance,” he stated.
Maduro's fall changed the equation for Cuba
One of the fundamental changes for Havana came after the detention of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3rd.
Venezuela supplied Cuba with up to 100,000 barrels of oil daily, and the island also lost a significant source of income from selling approximately half of that oil on the global market.
"For the first time in the history of Cuba, the country lacks two things it has always relied on: an external sponsor and the absence of U.S. attention toward the country as an absolute priority," said Rubio.
"They're not going to secure a sponsor in the next two and a half years, so that's the dynamic that has changed."
And he emphasized, "That has put them in a very difficult situation."
In that new context, U.S. fuel exports to Cuba reached 96 million dollars in the first six months of the year, with more than half of that amount occurring in June alone, according to data cited by Axios from the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council.
A businessman involved in fuel trading told the media that some Cuban companies have even sent people to Miami loaded with heavy gold chains to use as a means of exchange, due to U.S. banking restrictions that complicate financial transactions with Havana.
The report that "lays the groundwork" for new actions
On July 20, the State Department released the report "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism", which discusses the espionage and ideological subversion campaigns attributed to the Cuban regime and directed against the United States.
Officials acknowledged to Axios that the document "lays the groundwork" for new actions against Cuba, although Rubio did not specify what those might be.
When addressing the potential reaction that a U.S. action regarding the island could provoke, Rubio stated: “If we were to do something with Cuba, you would see the same people holding signs in support of Hamas and signs saying 'Free Maduro,' but they would be there with signs saying ‘Hands off Cuba.’”
An "irreversible path" towards another future
Rubio made it clear that Washington does not expect immediate results, and that the strategy is designed to maintain pressure throughout the remainder of Trump's term.
His expectation is that by the end of the administration, the Cuban landscape will have changed in such a way that it will be very difficult to reverse.
"My level of confidence is that, by the time this administration ends, at a minimum, Cuba will be on an irreversible path toward a different future," he stated.
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