The United States “looks horrible,” according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who called for a halt to the policy.

On Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the United States’ economic embargo against Cuba “genocidal policy”; upping the stakes in a standoff with Washington over the Communist-ruled Caribbean island.

López Obrador, a socialist who has consistently urged on the US to lift the embargo; indicated earlier this month that he would not attend the Summit of the Americas next month unless all of the region’s countries were invited.

López Obrador claimed the US “looked horrible” in its treatment of Cuba at a routine government news conference; he urged Washington to lift the blockade.

Lopez Obrador called the policy “genocidal.”