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Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel accused US President Donald Trump of attempting to "suffocate" Cuba's struggling economy through threatened tariffs on countries that sell oil to the communist island nation.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday threatening additional tariffs on nations that trade oil with Cuba, which is experiencing its most severe economic crisis in decades. The move comes after Cuba lost access to critical Venezuelan oil supplies following Washington's actions that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power, coupled with Trump's warnings directed at other leftist governments in the region.
"Under a false and baseless pretext... President Trump intends to suffocate the Cuban economy by imposing tariffs on countries that sovereignly trade oil with Cuba," Diaz-Canel wrote on X, the social media platform.
The Cuban president characterized the measure as revealing "the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal ends."
Diaz-Canel's statement appeared to reference Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American from Florida who has openly advocated for regime change in Havana.
Cuba's current economic situation has created severe hardships for residents. The island faces recurring power outages lasting up to 20 hours daily, alongside widespread shortages of food, gasoline and medicine. The economic deterioration has triggered a mass exodus of Cubans seeking better opportunities abroad.
The threatened tariffs would add pressure to an economy already strained by the loss of Venezuelan oil, which historically represented a critical energy source for the island nation. Cuba's centrally planned economy has long depended on oil imports to maintain basic services and infrastructure.
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