Cuba accuses Rubio of tightening the US economic and energy blockade after Cupet sanction
Key takeaways
- Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr guez charged that Rubio resorts to usual vulgar lies to justify the measure.
- The company joins the list of sanctioned entities and officials, among them President Miguel D az-Canel, designated a week earlier.
- Rodr guez replied on social media that Rubio acts out of ambitions of conquest, presidential aspirations and the vindictive sentiments of the elitist clique that propelled his political career.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Cuba's government on Thursday accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of further reinforcing the economic and energy siege against the island, after Washington sanctioned the state company Uni n Cuba-Petr leo (Cupet), which handles crude extraction, refining and production. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr guez charged that Rubio resorts to usual vulgar lies to justify the measure.
The State Department added Cupet to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, under Executive Order 14404, signed on May 1, for operating in the Cuban energy sector; its assets in the United States are now blocked. The company joins the list of sanctioned entities and officials, among them President Miguel D az-Canel, designated a week earlier. Rubio said key assets of Cupet were unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago —a reference to the 1960 nationalization of oil production— and accused the Cuban government of using energy as a weapon and of diverting resources to enrich itself, a claim that, according to news agencies, he did not back with evidence.
Rodr guez replied on social media that Rubio acts out of ambitions of conquest, presidential aspirations and the vindictive sentiments of the elitist clique that propelled his political career. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Trade chief Oscar P rez-Oliva went further, asserting that the sanction deepens the energy blockade and with it the genocide the United States commits against the Cuban people.