The United States hopes Cuba will take a “different path”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Rubio warned that those in Havana, who believe they can simply wait out the end of President Donald Trump's rule, will “learn their lesson the hard way” if they do not change course.
The Trump administration has previously stated that its goal is to change the communist government in Cuba.
The oil blockade imposed by the US earlier this year has put the country under serious pressure amid fuel shortages and disruptions to power supply, aggravated by depreciated infrastructure.
“We hope Cuba chooses a different path“, Marco Rubio said on the “Hannity“ show on “Fox News“. He added that Washington hopes “some of the people“ who govern Cuba will “open their eyes to the reality they face“.
“Unfortunately, the people there who continue to chant revolutionary slogans - too many of them still believe that they can just wait for the end of this administration without changing anything and without taking any action. They are wrong and will learn their lesson the hard way if they do not change course, Rubio said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that Cuba will always be open to dialogue with Washington.
US President Donald Trump said a few days ago during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that Cuba is a "failed state" and freedom will come to the communist island, Reuters reported.
“My administration also wants a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba, where the communist regime is under great pressure - the greatest pressure it has ever experienced. "It's an absolute failed state, it's failing like never before and it will," Trump said.
"Communism will never come to America, but freedom will come to Cuba," he added.
The Cuban delegation walked out of the room in protest during the US president's speech.
The US has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years, and the Trump administration has increased pressure on the island's communist government after using the military to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Trump has called Cuba a "failed state" in the past, including in June when he said the US had some very good plans for the country and would take care of it.
Havana has been at odds with Washington for decades, following Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959
Trump is strongly supported by hardline Cuban Americans in Florida, who have been pushing for U.S.-led regime change for decades.
The Republican president has made it clear that he wants to see change in their homeland.