WASHINGTON - The United States eased an oil embargo on Cuba, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for the island to change "dramatically," saying the communist government had only itself to blame for a historic economic crisis.
Rubio, a Cuban-American and lifelong critic of Havana's government, heard concerns that the island's tumult could destabilise the whole region as he attended a Caribbean Community summit.
Attending the talks on the tiny island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Rubio staunchly defended the January 3 US attack that deposed Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.
The United States swiftly then blocked Venezuela from exporting oil to Cuba, which had relied on its ally for nearly half its needs, triggering fuel shortages and rolling blackouts on the island.
The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that the United States would allow Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba if sent to the private sector -- a small presence in the communist nation.
Rubio warned that the sanctions would be snapped back if the oil winds up going to the government or military.
"But Cuba needs to change. It needs to change dramatically because it is the only chance that it has to improve the quality of life for its people," Rubio told reporters.
It is "a system that's in collapse, and they need to make dramatic reforms," he said.
"If they want to make those dramatic reforms that open the space for both economic and eventually political freedom for the people of Cuba, obviously the United States would love to see that," he said.
Rubio blamed economic mismanagement and the lack of a vibrant private sector for the dire situation in Cuba, under communist rule since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
"This is the worst economic climate Cuba has faced. And it is the authorities there, and that government who are responsible for that," Rubio said.