Cuba accuses US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of lying about an alleged oil embargo. It draws attention to the impact of sanctions on ordinary citizens.
Cuba on Tuesday accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of lying when he denied that the United States had imposed an oil embargo on the island nation. TASR writes about it according to an AFP report.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on Platform X that Rubio “simply chose to lie” and that what he is saying contradicts what US President Donald Trump and White House spokespeople are saying.
US oil embargo
“There is basically no oil embargo on Cuba,” Rubio said at a news conference. “She was getting oil for free from Venezuela, which was supplying her with it in large quantities,” the head of US diplomacy said, adding that more than half of the supplies were then exchanged for cash and the island’s residents had no benefit.
“So the only blockage that has occurred is that the Cubans, the Venezuelans, have decided that they’re not going to give you free oil anymore,” Rubio added.
Sanctions and their effects
Rodríguez also condemned the additional sanctions against Cuba, mainly related to the energy sector, which Trump announced on May 1.
“The minister (Rubio) is very aware of the damage and suffering he is causing to the Cuban people today,” added the head of Cuban diplomacy.
Cuba has been facing an energy crisis since January, when US forces detained its ally Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the United States subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on countries that would supply the island nation with oil. Since the beginning of the year, Washington has authorized only one delivery of Russian raw materials at the end of March.
