US not satisfied with Cuba's reforms, calls them smoke signals

"These gradual 'economic reforms' are modest, delayed and ultimately superficial smoke signals from the Cuban regime," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The Cuban government has recently listed 176 measures aimed at lifting the country out of its current serious crisis. The measures have been described as market-liberal reforms, but the United States dismisses them as “part of the dictatorship’s playbook.”

The United States has put heavy pressure on Cuba in the past year and, among other measures, imposed a blockade on oil deliveries to the country.