The United States has reiterated that it will continue to use "all tools at its disposal" to "promote" "political and economic" reforms in Cuba and end "decades of repression and economic incompetence of its communist regime."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio marked this Saturday the fifth anniversary of the "July 11 protests," the large mobilizations registered in different parts of the island to denounce the scarcity of food and medicine in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to the embargo that has been in place on Cuba for more than sixty years, Washington has applied an energy blockade since the beginning of the year which, at times, has completely stopped the supply. Cuban authorities confirmed this Friday a new nationwide blackout, the second in the same week after Monday's and the fourth so far this year.
Rubio maintains that the United States "has always supported the Cuban people with humanitarian assistance and food exports" and that the Trump Administration offered "a new bilateral relationship" conditioned on the reforms that Washington demands, encountering the rejection of the Cuban Executive.
As a consequence, "the Cuban economy is in free fall and its people continue to suffer blackouts, hunger, and deprivation," said the Secretary of State, who did not respond to the accusations made this very week by the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, before the United Nations General Assembly, where he denounced that the island is the victim of collective punishment dictated from the White House.
In contrast, Rubio attributes responsibility to "the communist rulers of Cuba who continue to consolidate economic control, stealing and hoarding abroad the few remaining resources and blaming others for their failures."
The US leader concludes with a warning. After insisting that Washington will continue to use all tools "to address the national security threats posed by the Cuban communist regime and promote economic and political reforms to give Cuba a better future," he urges the island's leaders to "choose to commit to real reforms, peace, and prosperity, before it is too late."