Ambassador Carlos de Cespedes says US pressure \u2018will not subjugate\u2019 Cuba as Venezuelan oil exports to island dry out.<\/p>\n
A Cuban diplomat has accused the United States of \u201cinternational piracy\u201d, as Washington continues to block Venezuelan oil<\/a> from reaching the Caribbean island in the wake of the US military attack on the nation and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n Carlos de Cespedes, Cuba\u2019s ambassador to Colombia, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the US is imposing a \u201cmarine siege\u201d on the country.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cCuba is facing more powerful US threats than it has in the 67 years since the revolution,\u201d de Cespedes said, referring to decades of punishing sanctions and military threats.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US is carrying out international piracy in the Caribbean Sea that is restricting and blocking the arrival of oil to Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n Since US forces abducted Venezuela\u2019s Maduro<\/a> earlier this month, the flow of oil from the country to Cuba has all but come to a halt.<\/p>\n Venezuela has been the main oil supplier to Cuba in recent decades.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump said earlier this month that there would be \u201czero\u201d Venezuelan oil headed to Cuba now that Washington is exerting its influence over Caracas under the threat of further military strikes.<\/p>\n The US has also been intercepting and seizing Venezuelan oil tankers<\/a> in the Caribbean \u2013 a move that critics say amounts to piracy.<\/p>\n \u201cCuba is ready to fall,\u201d Trump projected<\/a> on January 5. \u201cCuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They\u2019re not getting any of it. Cuba literally is ready to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Cuba has continued to import oil from other sources, including Mexico.<\/p>\n But without Venezuelan oil, Cuba\u2019s already struggling economy<\/a> could approach a breaking point.<\/p>\n Politico reported last week that the Trump administration is considering imposing a complete energy blockade on the island \u2013 a move that could lead to a humanitarian crisis in the country of 11 million people.<\/p>\n Cuba had close trade and security relations with Maduro\u2019s government. Nearly 50 Cuban soldiers<\/a> were killed during the US abduction of the Venezuelan leader.<\/p>\n Washington has had hostile relations with Havana since the rise of the late President Fidel Castro after the communist revolution that overthrew US-backed leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959.<\/p>\n The Trump administration boasts several anti-Cuban government hawks, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent.<\/p>\n