Rubio Says There’s No Oil Blockade on Cuba. Cubans Disagree

"Did you see the video posted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio?" a reporter asked.

"No. I really didn't," said one passerby.

"It's just that I despise Marco Rubio so much that it's not even worth listening to anything he says," said Lucía Miret, 76, a retired professor.

"No, I haven't seen anything," another passerby said.

"I haven't seen it," a third added.

"Would it be okay if I showed you the video for a second and you told me what you think?" the reporter asked.

"The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to a U.S. oil blockade," said Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, in an archival video.

"It's no secret to anyone that the blockade exists. If the blockade didn't exist then they should let the ships in," said Daimara Pérez, a doctor.

"The blackouts in Cuba have to do with the oil blockade. We saw that when the Russian ship showed up, people were happy because the blackouts weren't 100 percent gone, but maybe 90 percent," said Luis Landa, a private sector worker.

"The reality shows since they imposed the oil blockade blackouts increased to more than 20 hours a day," said Pablo Frómeta, a former Paralympic athlete.

"It seems like this message was planned. Because three days ago it was the 300 drones, and suddenly now it's Raúl Castro. What they always need is some kind of justification for their policy, like justifying the embargo, justifying the oil blockade," Landa said.

"Cuba is not a military threat to anyone. The U.S. is a military threat to anyone. Cuba is a country that has its own level of military preparedness, but Cuba isn't a threat. Not to that great power, not at all. They know that," he added.

"A country guided by the United Nations Charter, that all it really does is radiate peace to the world, providing doctors and all kinds of humanitarian aid, cannot represent a threat to anyone, especially not to an empire," said Carlos Rodríguez, a taxi driver.

"Despite the hardships, you have to look at the May Day march, because what they say over there is one thing, and what we experience here is another, and we have to defend it to the death here. That is the answer I can give you. Marco Rubio has no sense of what homeland means," Rodríguez concluded.