As tensions between Washington and Havana prepare to intensify further with new sanctions measures by the Trump administration, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that economic pressure on Cuba would be increased.
In remarks to Axios on Friday, Rubio said additional sanctions would be imposed on Cuba but that the US would not rush the process. The secretary argued that patience and continuity had been lost in US foreign policy.
New sanctions channels will also be blocked
Rubio said he believed Cuba would be pushed irreversibly toward a different future by the time the Trump administration's term ended, adding that they would expand the scope of the sanctions policy.
According to Rubio, Washington's goal is to close every avenue the Cuban government could use to circumvent the existing sanctions. He said that if the Cuban leadership found a new way to evade the sanctions, that channel would also be blocked.
The US secretary of state said the economic pressure would not be short-lived and would continue for the next two and a half years.
Oil blockade worsened the electricity crisis
As US-Cuba relations entered a confrontational phase during the Trump administration, regime change in Cuba became one of the administration's stated objectives.
Washington's oil blockade and comprehensive sanctions increased pressure on Havana. The policy was accompanied by months of power cuts and an unstable electricity grid in the country.