Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused the United States of intimidating those trying to trade with his country and defended the Caribbean nation’s right to import fuels.
“The oil blockade imposed by the US government against our country internationalizes the blockade,” the minister said on Tuesday, April 14. “It shows this is not a bilateral issue. It intimidates, pressures and extorts those who trade sovereignly with Cuba.”
Rodríguez also called “contradictory” the statements made by US President Donald Trump, who said he believes his administration can focus on Cuba once it resolves the war against Iran, when asked about the recent decision to allow some tankers to reach the island.
“The US is trying to create confusion in order to prevent the entry of fuel into our territory,” the Cuban foreign minister said.
Rodríguez also defended Cuba’s full right to trade fuel with any nation, without “conditions contrary to the freedom of international trade.”
“Every country has the right to export fuel to Cuba and to develop trade relations, without interference from an external power,” he stressed.
After the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin delivered 100,000 tons of crude oil to Cuba in late March, the Trump administration announced that it would review each oil shipment to Cuba “on a case-by-case basis.”
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Following the arrival of that vessel, Russia announced the dispatch of another tanker to the island. Recent data indicate that the oil tanker could be the Russian vessel Universal, which is currently sailing in the North Atlantic toward the Caribbean, about 15 days from Cuba.
“Based on its profile, there is a high probability that its destination is Cuba,” said Cuban expert Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas Energy Institute.
The oil tanker Universal, which has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, belongs to the Russian shipping company Sovcomflot, like the Kolodkin vessel.
Since 2024, Cuba has been experiencing a severe energy crisis, worsened by the oil blockade imposed by Washington since January.
