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Rubio presses Cuba
At the conclusion of a CARICOM heads of government summit in the Saint Kitts and Nevis archipelago, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba must change radically to improve the quality of life of its population, adding that it is the authorities and the government who are responsible for the Cuban people having suffered for a long time.
Rubio warned that if the U.S. catches the private sector “playing cat and mouse” and diverting resold Venezuelan-origin oil toward the Havana regime or military-controlled companies, “those licenses will be canceled,” while the U.S. has imposed since January an energy blockade on Cuba.
Rubio’s trip coincided with Cuba’s announcement that four occupants of a boat registered in Florida had been killed and six others injured in Cuban territorial waters during a gunfight with border guards, and the U.S. Secretary of State said, “We will be ready to respond accordingly,” without speculating on what happened.
Cuba also denounced an infiltration attempt by an armed group for terrorist purposes by sea from the United States, saying a fast patrol boat registered in Florida under number FL7726SH was carrying 10 armed people.
In the same CARICOM discussions, Rubio called for holding fair and democratic elections in Venezuela, and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness warned that a new deterioration in Cuba would impact stability in the Caribbean, saying, “Humanitarian suffering serves no one.”
Pressure and uncertainty
In a separate account of Rubio’s Cuba policy, CNN described then-Sen. Marco Rubio in the final days of his 2016 presidential campaign setting a baseline for negotiations with Cuba as “free elections, a free press and free speech for the 11 million people living on the island.”
CNN said Rubio, now secretary of state, is navigating what it called the most volatile moment in US-Cuba relations in decades, as he teams with Donald Trump to pressure Cuba’s leaders to the negotiating table while trying to hasten conditions for their ouster.
CNN reported that a fuel blockade has left Cubans with rolling blackouts ahead of the sweltering summer months, and that on Thursday the U.S. imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canal, his wife and stepson, family members of Raúl Castro, and several organizations it asserted were tied to the Cuban government.
CNN also said it remains an open question whether Rubio will achieve the liberated Cuba he has sought, or whether the moment ends with what Trump deems “a good deal,” and it quoted Trump telling reporters last month, “Well, I don’t know about changing the regime.”
In South Florida, where CNN said more than 1 million Cuban Americans reside, Rubio told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “The United States is open to a negotiated situation that puts Cuba on a path towards democracy, prosperity, freedom, normalcy.”
Rubio’s Cuba stakes
A profile in Contexto framed Marco Rubio as the U.S. Secretary of State whose rise is tied to Cuban-American politics, noting that he was born in 1971 in Miami and that his parents came to the United States seeking the “American dream” in 1956.
Contexto said Rubio was educated in the anti-communism of Cuban exiles in Miami and that he has credited the exile community with shaping his hawkish worldview, while also quoting Rubio’s memoir line, “All my life I have been in a rush to reach my future.”
CNN described Rubio’s Cuba challenge as his most personal one, saying it could most closely define him as he plots another potential run for the presidency in 2028, and it reported that he has become a primary driver behind Trump’s foreign policy agenda.
CNN quoted Lawrence Gumbiner, who led the U.S. Embassy in Havana during Trump’s first term, saying, “This is the golden ring for Marco Rubio. This is what he has dreamed about, both personally and professionally.”
CNN added that Rubio told lawmakers, “Obviously, it will be challenging,” as he described the U.S. being open to working with whoever is open to doing it, while the State Department has been in contact with some about assisting with rebuilding should the regime topple.
