Rather than force regime change, President Trump and Marco Rubio aim to win control of the island by deepening its economic dependence on the US.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says his government should “immediately” focus on implementing urgent transformations to the island’s economic and social model as oil reserves in the Caribbean country dwindle.

Havana’s streets have changed as a US fuel blockade restricts the movements of vehicles and people and hits businesses.

President Donald Trump has shown Cuba's communist rulers two ways their reign over the island can end: the Maduro way or the Khamenei way. The Cuban regime is a mix of gerontocracy, nepotism and socialism.

We cut off all oil, all money, or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal,” Trump told POLITICO.

"They want to make a deal so badly," the president said on Friday. "So I'm going to put Marco [Rubio] over there."

The Cuban president's comments come as Cuba feels the squeeze of a recent oil blockade coupled with a halt in oil shipments from Venezuela.

A US pressure campaign, including an oil blockade, has strained the Caribbean country’s ageing energy infrastructure.