The US has taken a new step to increase sanctions and economic pressure on Cuba. Cuba's state oil company Cupet has been added to the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the US Treasury Department.
The Cuban government considers this decision a move that worsens the economic and energy blockade. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez stated that the US is deepening the blockade further.
Reaction from Havana
According to information based on reports in the national press by AA, Rodriguez expressed that the US is intensifying the economic and energy blockade against Cuba.
Cuba's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Oscar Perez-Oliva also criticized the US sanctions decisions. Perez-Oliva described the justifications for the decision as claims spread by "anti-Cuba circles."
Customs duty threat during Trump administration
On January 30, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing customs duties on all goods coming from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba.
The White House argued that this decision aims to protect US national security and foreign policy interests against Cuba's "harmful actions and policies."
Trump had stated in his remarks about Cuba that they were targeting the country and would engage with the Havana administration. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel emphasized that the US is looking for a pretext to intervene militarily in his country and warned that such a scenario would turn the region into a "bloodbath."
