Marco Rubio: “What you're seeing right now is an oil quarantine that allows us to exert tremendous leverage over what happens next.”

To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time.

You've got to change the infrastructure of the elections, not in 10 years, not in five years, not in two years. It needs to happen quickly under the timelines that we've established.

Venezuela has two options here. Option one is to truly enter into a period of both reconciliation and reformation so that they can have elections that result not just in a democratically elected government but an enduring republic.

Likewise, we expect all political actors to support these talks which represent the best chance Venezuela has had in thirty years to peacefully achieve not just a free and fair election but an enduring democracy.