Diplomat Carlos de Cossio said the U.S. fuel embargo is having a negative impact on Cuba’s health services, food production and standard of living.
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Cuban diplomat Carlos de Cosio has accused the United States of imposing collective punishment on the Caribbean island nation as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up pressure to block the Caribbean island nation’s access to oil.
De Cossio, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, explained the situation from Havana’s perspective in a post on X on Friday.
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“Let me be clear: a. Cuba requires imports of fuel. b. The United States applies threats and coercive measures to any country that provides fuel. c. Fuel shortages negatively impact transportation, health services, schooling, energy, food production, and living standards. d. Massive punishment is a crime,” he wrote.
The Fourth Geneva Convention provides that under international law “collective punishment and likewise all means of intimidation or terrorism are prohibited”.
Cuba has relied heavily on oil imports from Venezuela, but imports have been cut off since the U.S. military abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last month.
After the fall of Maduro’s regime, Cuba turned to Mexico for fuel.
However, the White House threatened to impose “additional tariffs on imports from countries that directly or indirectly supply oil to Cuba.”
The Mexican government cut off oil supplies to Cuba in response to threats from the Trump administration.
But on Thursday, Mexico sent two ships carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba.
The US oil blockade comes as the Trump administration pursues a policy of regional control over the Americas.
Washington targets Cuba
In last year’s National Security Strategy, the White House said Washington’s goal was to “restore U.S. primacy in the Western Hemisphere.”
With Maduro gone, many U.S. foreign policy hawks see a perfect opportunity to overthrow the Cuban government.
Washington and Havana have been enemies since late President Fidel Castro rose to power after the 1959 communist revolution that overthrew U.S.-backed repressive leader Fulgencio Batista.
President Trump has claimed that the Cuban government is “prepared to collapse” on its own without access to Venezuelan oil.
Last month, the White House released a memorandum labeling the Cuban government as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States.
Meanwhile, Havana has issued statements defiantly toward the United States, while also expressing a willingness to engage in diplomacy.
“The Cuban people and the American people benefit from constructive engagement, lawful cooperation and peaceful coexistence,” Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Feb. 2 statement.
“Cuba reaffirms its readiness to maintain a respectful and mutually beneficial dialogue aimed at concrete outcomes with the U.S. government, based on mutual interests and international law.”
But a few days earlier, Carlos de Cespedes, Cuba’s ambassador to Colombia, told Al Jazeera that his country would not accept the “terror” of U.S. pressure.
“Even if a drop of oil does not reach us, it will not bring us down or break our resolve,” he said.
Last month, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Cuba was “ready to defend our homeland to the drop of our blood,” but also said the island posed no threat to anyone and was open to negotiations with the United States.
