U.S. Strategy to Suffocate Cuba Succeeds? Secretary of State Says Regime Will Be Squeezed with 'Patience and Persistence'

▲ U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

The Donald Trump administration in the United States is going all out on a campaign to suffocate Cuba, a hostile force sitting right on its doorstep.

With the goal of collapsing Cuba's economy—where energy, food, and medicine have run out due to carpet-bombing sanctions—and overthrowing the regime, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on the 7th (local time) that the U.S. will squeeze the country with "patience and persistence."

Rubio, who comes from a Cuban immigrant family, said in an interview with Axios published that day, "We are trying to teach them (Cuba) that there is no way out."

Since taking office, the second Trump administration has launched 24 separate measures targeting Cuba.

Through these actions, the U.S. has sanctioned 40 entities, including state-owned enterprises and financial institutions, as well as 38 individuals, including the family of former de facto leader Raul Castro.

As the U.S. has poured out massive sanctions on top of existing embargoes, Cuba's economy has effectively collapsed.

Axios reported that Cuba is in a state little different from a "betrayed colony," relying on black-market trade with neighboring America for essential goods and even currency.

A case was also reported in which a Cuban company sent a courier "covered in gold necklaces" to Miami, U.S., to purchase and bring back fuel.

This means that due to restrictions making normal financial transactions impossible, Cuba purchases fuel using gold and sells it on its domestic black market.

According to data compiled by the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, U.S. fuel exports to Cuba surged to $96 million in the first half of this year, with more than half of that volume occurring in June when the energy crisis intensified.

Rubio pointed out that every time Cuba creates new methods to escape the noose, the U.S. blocks them, adding that Cuba is trying to buy time by pretending to reform.

He said, "They cannot simply wait out the end of our term. This (pressure on Cuba) is not going away for the next two and a half years."

Rubio emphasized that the U.S. arrest earlier this year of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a Cuban ally, was a strategic move keeping not only Venezuela but also Cuba in mind.

Venezuela supplied Cuba with up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, and Cuba smuggled and sold half of it.

With Maduro ousted, Cuba has lost its main source of revenue and is struggling even to generate electricity.

Rubio stated, "For the next two and a half years, they are not going to get a benefactor," adding, "That has put them in a very difficult position."

Mentioning the State Department's actions the previous day designating Cuban Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera, seven other high-ranking officials, and five state-owned enterprises as targets of sanctions, he warned that more sanctions will follow.

Behind the scenes of economic pressure, the Trump administration is also conducting clandestine negotiations with the Cuban leadership, which is likewise being led by Rubio.

The negotiating counterpart is Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, a grandson of Raul.

The two sides are reportedly negotiating ways to change Cuba's ruling system, though Axios noted it remains unclear whether he has the political viability or survival capacity to lead a transitional government in Cuba.

A U.S. official asked rhetorically, with Raul now 95 years old and in failing health, "When he is no longer around (his grandson's) side, what happens to his standing? Who protects him?"

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)

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