Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of being one of the main architects behind Washington’s pressure campaign against Cuba, including military threats and the intensified energy blockade targeting the island.
Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Rodriguez said Rubio had played a central role in tightening US sanctions against Havana “in all areas,” including prevrnting fuel supplies to the country, adding that Cuba posed no threat to the United States.
Tensions between the two countries have escalated in recent months. On January 29, the United States imposed duties on imports from countries supplying oil to Cuba and declared a state of emergency over what it claims to be a Cuban threat to US national security. Havana rejected the claims, saying Washington was using an energy embargo to strangle the island’s economy and worsen living conditions for Cubans.
Earlier this month, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned that US military pressure on Cuba had reached unprecedented levels. In remarks on May 3, Diaz-Canel said any aggression against the island would be met with the Cuban people’s determination to defend their sovereignty and independence.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of Justice last week indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro and five Cuban military officers over the 1996 downing of two aircraft linked to the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, which had launched operations against Cuba. Cuba denounced the charges as a political provocation, maintaining that it acted in self-defense after repeated violations of its airspace by the group’s aircraft.
The pressure campaign launched by the administration of US President Donald Trump against Cuba intensified after Trump returned to office in January 2025, with officials calling the strategy a “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at weakening Havana economically and diplomatically.
On March 24, 2025, Trump signed an executive order authorizing tariffs on countries importing Venezuelan oil, a move that indirectly targeted Cuba because of its reliance on Venezuelan fuel supplies. The measure marked the beginning of broader efforts to choke the island’s energy access.
The campaign escalated sharply on January 29, 2026, when Trump declared Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and announced a national emergency. The order authorized tariffs on imports from countries supplying oil to Cuba and directed US agencies to monitor and penalize states helping Havana secure fuel.
The blockade contributed to a severe energy crisis on the island, with fuel shortages and repeated nationwide blackouts reported throughout early 2026. On May 07, 2026, UN experts warned that the US fuel blockade amounted to “energy starvation” and risked undermining basic human rights in Cuba.
On May 1, 2026, the Trump administration tightened its chokehold further through an executive order targeting Cuban officials, military-linked companies, and foreign entities operating in Cuba’s energy, finance, mining, and defense sectors. Washington claimed the sanctions were aimed at countering alleged repression and national security threats posed by the Cuban government.
Additional sanctions followed on May 7, 2026, when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced restrictions against Cuba’s military-industrial sector and warned that more punitive measures could follow. Cuban officials have condemned the campaign as economic warfare and collective punishment intended to force political change on the island.