For Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Cuba is not currently suffering from an oil blockade, despite the fact that for more than three months, not a single drop of fuel has reached the Caribbean nation, which remains harassed by Washington's unilateral measures.

During a press conference this Tuesday at the White House—in which the head of U.S. diplomacy and National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump assumed a new role as spokesperson—he responded to questions on various topics, including Cuba.

"Regarding Cuba (and the) oil blockade on Cuba: there is no oil blockade on Cuba 'per se,'" cumplimented Rubio. He asserted, without providing evidence, that the island used to receive free oil from Venezuela—which was formalized in bilateral agreements—and resold a large portion of it on the international market to obtain cash. The official persisted in the rhetoric that "Cuba is a failed state" located "only 90 miles from our shores" and that, "furthermore, it happens to be friendly territory for some of our adversaries. Therefore, it is an unacceptable 'status quo.' I will speak about it, but not today," he concluded.

On January 29, President Trump signed an executive order declaring a "national emergency" regarding Cuba in the face of the alleged "unusual and extraordinary threat" that the island represents to U.S. national security.

The Republican leader based this new tightening of policy toward Cuba on the claim that the Havana government is aligned with "numerous hostile countries," has hosted "transnational terrorist groups," and even allowed the deployment of "sophisticated military and intelligence capabilities" from Russia and China on the island. Based on this reasoning, he threatened to impose heavy tariffs on any sovereign nation attempting to supply oil to Cuba.

Returning to Hugh Hewitt’s program on the Salem News Channel, Trump commented yesterday that he did not want to speak too much about Cuba, except to say "that maybe I will do so upon returning from Iran, when we have finished there," and repeated the idea of stationed an aircraft carrier very close to the Cuban coast for intimidation.

Last Friday, Trump indicated—the same day he announced new coercive measures against the Antillean nation—that he intended to take control of the island "almost immediately." At a private dinner for the Forum Club in West Palm Beach, he confessed amid laughter from the attendees that he would take care of Cuba, but would first conclude his war in Iran because he likes to "finish the job." He likewise spoke of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which he would station "about 100 yards" from the coast.

Unprecedented Hostility

Since assuming his second term in the White House on January 20, 2025, Trump has redoubled his offensive against Cuba. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order reversing the late-term measures of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

Biden, who during his four years in the Oval Office largely remained in line with Trump's initial policy toward Cuba, decided just one week before concluding his presidency to remove the country from the unilateral and arbitrary U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Consequently, under Trump, a cascade of provisions arrived, all aimed at strangling the Caribbean nation through an unprecedented reinforcement of the longest economic, financial, and commercial blockade in history, with the objective of overthrowing the Cuban Revolution—that is, regime change.

He targeted remittances (which were suspended as of January 31, 2025) and increased the persecution of Cuba's international health cooperation through pressure campaigns that forced some countries to abandon the humanitarian program.

Additionally, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has intensified its pursuit of the island’s financial operations; he ended the humanitarian parole program; suspended visas for cultural, sporting, and scientific exchanges; and, in an unprecedented turn after 23 years of suspension, Trump activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

On May 1, Trump published a decree expanding the unilateral coercive actions of his government against Cuba, which serve as an extension of those announced in January, although it does not mention specific entities or persons.

In response to this new step by the Trump administration, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the increase in economic pressure from the White House on the Caribbean country as "repudiable."

In a 51-47 vote on Tuesday, the United States Senate rejected a Democratic initiative regarding war powers intended to limit possible military operations that Trump might order against Cuba without Congressional authorization.

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, one of the most prominent voices in Washington against U.S. policy toward Cuba, expressed after an April visit to Havana with colleague Jonathan Jackson that the illegal blockade of fuel supplies constitutes a "cruel collective punishment" and an "economic bombing" that has caused irreparable damage to the national infrastructure and the Cuban people.