U.S. policy toward Cuba is moving in a more confrontational direction through new sanctions and economic pressure measures by the Trump administration. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that additional sanctions would be imposed on Cuba and said Washington would not rush the process.
In remarks to Axios on Friday, Rubio argued that patience and consistency had been lost in U.S. foreign policy. He said he believed Cuba would be moving irreversibly toward a different future by the time the Trump administration's term ended.
New channels will also face sanctions
Rubio said the aim of the sanctions policy was to close every avenue the Cuban government could use to circumvent the current measures. He said the administration would also block any such channel if a new way to bypass the sanctions emerged.
Rubio said economic pressure would not be a short-term policy and would continue for the next 2.5 years.
Power outages and an unstable grid
During the Trump administration, relations between the United States and Cuba entered a confrontational phase. A change of government also became one of the Trump administration's explicit objectives in its Cuba policy.
As Washington's oil blockade and sweeping sanctions increased pressure on Havana, Cuba experienced months of power outages, and its electricity grid became unstable.