By Dave Sherwood
HAVANA, May 6 (Reuters) – Cuba’s top officials blasted a growing litany of U.S. statements and threats of military action against the Caribbean island, calling them dangerous and an international crime alongside an ongoing U.S. oil blockade that has vastly restricted fuel shipments amid a devastating energy crisis.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez characterized the U.S. as “hinting at a military action” to “liberate” Cuba, saying it was hypocritical and cynical in a post on social media late on Tuesday, in which he cited decades of U.S. sanctions against the island’s government as the root cause of its economic and social woes.
“The threat of a military attack and the aggression itself are international crimes,” Rodriguez said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters earlier on Tuesday that the status quo in Cuba was unacceptable, adding the U.S. would address it, though he did not provide a timeline.
Rubio’s statements were accompanied on Tuesday by a post on social media showing the U.S. embassy’s chief of mission in Havana, Mike Hammer, walking alongside Rubio and General Frank Donovan, of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. operations in the Caribbean region.
Another photo posted Tuesday by the U.S. military showed Rubio shaking hands with Donovan while standing before a map of Cuba.
The Trump administration has vastly ramped up pressure on Cuba this year, halting shipments of oil from Venezuela – long Cuba’s top supplier – and threatening to slap sanctions on any country supplying Cuba with oil.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would allow a single Russian oil tanker to deliver fuel to the island for “humanitarian reasons,” though it represented just a fraction of the island’s needs over four months.
Havana plunged back into a routine of regular, hours-long blackouts this week as the Russian oil ran short, leaving many residents anxious ahead of a long, hot Caribbean summer.
Trump on Saturday appeared at a private event joking that the U.S. might station an aircraft carrier off Cuba to force the island’s surrender.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called the comments “a dangerous escalation and (one) without precedents.”
“No aggressor, no matter how strong, will be met with surrender in Cuba,” he said.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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