Cuba asks US: Why block reforms you demanded?

Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations has questioned why Washington continues to tighten sanctions on the island, even as Havana pushes through sweeping economic reforms that the United States has long demanded.

In an interview this week, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán addressed his remarks directly to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the architect of the Trump administration's Cuba policy. "What are you afraid of?" he asked, noting that new sanctions are being imposed almost every two weeks.

The State Department responded with a statement from Rubio, who said the measures would continue to close off what he called "escape valves" in Cuba's economy. On Thursday, the US added fresh penalties on Cuban state-owned mining, metal, and construction companies.

Cuba has been under severe strain since January, when Washington imposed an oil blockade on top of the decades-old embargo. The resulting fuel shortages have worsened blackouts, crippled public transport, and deepened shortages of medicine and food.

Guzmán said the sanctions are the main obstacle to Cuba's economic opening. The lack of electricity and fuel has deterred both investors and tourists, a key source of revenue. The Spanish hotel chain Meliá recently pulled out, citing "significant operational, legal, economic and financial difficulties."

Experts say the US position is contradictory. William LeoGrande of American University called it "disingenuous" to demand foreign investment while blocking it. He said the administration's goal appears to be regime change, not economic reform. John Kavulich of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council noted that Cuba has made more commercial changes in the last eight months than since the revolution, but said the US has not allowed American companies to participate in the process.

The reforms, announced by President Miguel Díaz-Canel in June, include space for private businesses, direct imports and exports, private banks, and investment by Cubans abroad. Guzmán pointed to opportunities in real estate, solar energy, marinas, and tourism.

Analysts note an irony: US pressure is pushing Cuba toward liberalization out of necessity, while simultaneously limiting the resources needed for those reforms to succeed. Rubio, however, has dismissed Cuba as "a failed state" with leaders who "don't know how to fix their economy."

Guzmán said talks are underway between the two countries, though he declined to provide details. "Even when Cuba is changing a lot," he said, "the US government keeps the same policy of aggression towards the Cuban people."