Rubio urges Cubans to side with Trump as U.S. pressure on Havana grows
Rubio urges Cubans to take a “new path” with the United States. (Photo: STEFANO RELLANDINI/Pool via REUTERS)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Cubans in a video
address to align with President Donald Trump’s administration and blamed Cuba’s
government for the country’s energy, food and economic crises, NYT
reported on May 20.
The report said the address was released on the anniversary
of Cuba’s independence from Spain and U.S. military occupation.
“President Trump is offering a new path between the U.S. and
a new Cuba,” Rubio said in the video.
He also blamed former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and GAESA,
the military-run conglomerate that controls much of the country’s economy, for
years of electricity, fuel and resource shortages in Cuba.
“The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without
electricity is not due to an oil blockade by the U.S. The real reason you don’t
have electricity, fuel or food is because those who control your country have
plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,”
Rubio said in Spanish.
The article also said Cuba has struggled with an energy
crisis for more than two years because of crumbling infrastructure and
dwindling oil supplies from Venezuela. Amid the crisis, the Trump
administration has increased pressure on the Cuban government, including
through new sanctions against officials.
It was Rubio’s first direct appeal to the Cuban people since
he became U.S. secretary of state. He has long been seen as a hawk on Cuba
policy and has made little secret of his hopes to topple or undermine the
country’s government, NYT added.
U.S.-Cuba tensions
After the United States overthrew Nicolás Maduro’s
government in Venezuela, fuel supplies from the country to Cuba were cut off.
The shortage has deepened the island nation’s energy crisis, at times
triggering a nationwide blackout.
The Trump administration has periodically hinted that, after
Venezuela and Iran, Cuba is the next focus of U.S. attention and that a “new
dawn” awaits it. Media reports have said the White House is considering options
for using military force against Cuba.
On May 17, Axios, citing intelligence, reported that Cuba
had acquired more than 300 military drones, likely from Russia and Iran, and
had begun discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo
Bay, U.S. military ships and Key West, Florida.
The report said Cuba has been buying attack drones from
Russia and Iran since 2023 and deploying them at strategic sites across the
island. A senior U.S. official said Cuba had already asked Russia for more
drones and military equipment and had also contacted Tehran “to learn how Iran
resisted us.”
On May 18, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused
the United States of fabricating the drone threat to justify economic sanctions
and a potential military invasion.
He claimed that “Cuba does not threaten war and does not
want it.” Rodríguez said Havana is “preparing to resist external aggression as
part of exercising its right to legitimate self-defense, recognized by the UN
Charter.”
On May 19, Politico, citing sources, reported that Trump and
his aides are increasingly frustrated that the campaign of economic pressure on
Cuba has not forced the island’s government to agree to major reforms. As a
result, a military option is now being considered more seriously.
On May 20, the United States filed a federal criminal
indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro and five others. Court
documents show that 94-year-old Raúl Castro was charged in Miami, Florida, with
conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, four counts of murder and two counts of
aircraft destruction.
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