Rubio urges Cubans to act for political change after Trump remarks
The US secretary of state cited Trump’s comments about warships near Cuba and encouraged partnership with the CIA.
At a glance
- Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change to act, saying “now is the time.”
- Donald Trump suggested US warships returning from Iran could stop near Cuba’s coast.
- Cuba’s government called the US comments desperate and compared CIA recruitment to selling toothpaste.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged people in Cuba seeking political change to act immediately, saying “now is the time” in a social media post. The appeal came shortly after Donald Trump, campaigning at a Friday rally in south Florida, suggested US warships returning from the Iran war could stop off the Cuban coast. Rubio’s parents left Cuba for the United States before the socialist revolution.
Rubio’s post, addressed to those seeking “positive change,” encouraged Cubans to seize what he described as an opportunity and partner with the CIA. He used the word “discrete,” which appears to be a mistake for “discreet.” Trump, responding to a shouted question from the crowd, said ships could pass within about 50 yards of Cuba and that Rubio would then “finish up the deal.”
Havana responded by mocking the comments as a sign of US desperation. Cuban deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio wrote on X that the United States was publicly recruiting for the CIA and compared the agency’s pitch to selling a tube of toothpaste.
The remarks follow months of mixed signals from the Trump administration on Cuba. Trump and Rubio have previously raised the possibility of military intervention, and Trump has said he does not believe force will be necessary because Cuba’s economy is failing. The two governments have held recent talks, but the US side has imposed additional sanctions after concluding the discussions were unproductive. Rubio has also said Cuba poses a national security threat because of its ties to US adversaries.
Cuba has faced an economic and energy crisis since 2020, with blackouts, food shortages, inflation and protests. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have emigrated, many to the United States. The countries also clashed recently at the United Nations over an annual vote condemning Washington’s decades-long economic embargo against Havana.
Source: The Guardian World.
Questions and answers
- What did Marco Rubio say about Cuba?
- Rubio told Cubans seeking political change that “now is the time” to act and suggested a partnership with the CIA.
- What did Donald Trump say about US warships and Cuba?
- Trump said ships returning from the Iran war could stop about 50 yards off Cuba’s coast before Rubio finished “the deal.”
- How did Cuba’s government respond?
- Cuban deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio called the comments desperate and said the US was publicly recruiting for the CIA.
