Rubio Urges Cubans to Act as Trump Floats Warship Visit

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio encouraged Cubans seeking political change to move now, posting that "now is the time." His message addressed "those who seek to create positive change" and pointed to failed promises, corruption and the privileged lives of a few. He suggested working "through a discrete [sic] partnership with the CIA." Rubio's parents left Cuba for the United States before the socialist revolution.

The post came days after President Donald Trump told a rally of candidates in south Florida that American warships could stop in Cuba on their return from the Iran war. Trump said one vessel could anchor about 50 yards from shore. "We'll do a little stopover," he said. He then added: "They'll raise up their hands. And then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal." The rally took place before midterm elections in which voters have raised concerns about how the war on Iran has affected prices for goods from gas to groceries.

Havana answered the same day. Cuban deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio wrote on X that Washington was "resorting to public recruitment for the CIA." He added: "There must be a great deal of desperation or misery within the agency for it to be forced to sell its services like a tube of toothpaste."

Trump first raised the idea earlier this year and returned to it after a question from the crowd. He has previously called Cuba "be next" for intervention abroad once the Iran war winds down. In May, he told reporters in the Oval Office that earlier presidents had weighed intervention for decades but that "it looks like I'll be the one that does it." That same month, the administration announced criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Rubio and other senior US officials have met Cuban counterparts in recent months to discuss better relations, but the US side came away unimpressed and added more sanctions. Trump told the UN general assembly last month that Rubio was "deep into negotiations with Cuba" and later said he expected a deal without military action. This week, the two governments clashed at the UN as Washington worked to build opposition to an annual vote condemning the US economic embargo.

Cuba has faced an economic and energy crisis since 2020. Its gross domestic product has shrunk, and its 10 million residents have dealt with blackouts, food shortages and inflation. Waves of protests have taken place, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have emigrated, many to the United States.

Rubio has not spoken about Cuba in depth for several weeks. In a 29 September interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, he said "Cuba has already fallen," describing a country without a functional economy run by people preaching a revolution that has been dead for 20 years. He did not mention a CIA operation at that time.