Cuba's foreign minister accuses the United States of cruel aggression

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the US government of conducting a "cruel and merciless aggression" against the island's population, through measures that, according to Havana, aim to provoke a "humanitarian crisis". The statement comes after new sanctions announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against Fidel Ernesto Castro Calis, nephew of former President Raul Castro, Banco Exterior de Cuba and several energy companies. On “It is his and his government's way of trying to justify a cruel and merciless aggression against the Cuban people, which does not allow for political or moral justifications,” he wrote. The minister then defined "collective punishment" as a crime and denounced as equally criminal "causing suffering to an entire population with coldly calculated measures to provoke a humanitarian crisis". Rodriguez finally asked to "end the blockade" and allow Cuba to live "in peace".