Cuba’s firm rejection of the intensified blockade imposed by the U.S. government against the island was evident on Tuesday in the voices of hundreds of women who gathered in Havana’s Mariana Grajales Park to condemn this hostile policy that limits the Cuban people’s development and exercise of their basic rights.

The Cuban Petroleum Union (CUPET) has reported that the crude oil shipment that arrived Tuesday morning at the port in the western province of Matanzas, originating from Russia, will be refined in the country to produce diesel, fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and gasoline.

As part of the process of granting prison benefits established by law and in accordance with Article 90, Section II of the Constitution of the Republic, it was decided to release 2,010 prisoners through a pardon approved by the Cuban Government.

The Cuban government strongly rejected statements made Monday by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which he claimed that Washington has taken no "punitive measures" against Cuba — despite the blockade in place for more than six decades and the ban on crude oil and fuel exports to the island, imposed under threat of reprisals by President Donald Trump last December.