Secretary of State Marco Rubio marked Cuba’s Independence Day on Wednesday with a sharply critical message blaming the island nation’s communist leadership for the country’s economic collapse and saying those in power are “the only thing standing in the way” of a better future for Cubans.

In a video message released by the State Department on the anniversary of Cuba’s formal independence from Spain in 1902, Rubio accused the nation’s military-linked elite of enriching themselves while ordinary Cubans face rolling blackouts, food shortages, and economic hardship.

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