Marco Rubio announces sanctions against Cuban regime oil company, CUPET, as pressure on Havana intensifies
As a result of the measure, the company has been added to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, which prohibits it from conducting any type of financial or commercial transaction with U.S. persons or entities.
Senator Marco Rubio photographed on June 4 in Washington.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on Thursday against Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET), the Cuban regime’s state-owned company that monopolizes the extraction, refining, and distribution of fuel on the island.
"Today, I am designating Cuba's state-owned oil and gas company Union Cuba-Petroleo (CUPET), key assets of which were unlawfully expropriated from American owners years ago" the secretary said in a statement.
Rubio accuses CUPET of hoarding fuel for its repressive forces
As a result of the measure, CUPET has been added to the list maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which prohibits it from conducting any financial or commercial transactions with U.S. persons or entities.
In his statement, Rubio explained the decision by noting that Cuba has used the energy sector as an instrument of political control for years. "Like every resource on the island, energy has long been weaponized by Cuba’s Communist government as a tool of both repression and self-serving regime kleptocracy," he stated.
The Secretary of State also accused the cuban regime of "reselling countless barrels of scarce energy on the secondary market, hoarding energy supplies for its military, intelligence and repressive forces, and rationing energy as a tool of social control."
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