The Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar stated that only the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, knows whether there are discussions taking place between the State Department and the circle of Raúl Castro.
"Only Marco Rubio knows that, and the best hands in which the United States can be concerning the Castro regime is Marco Rubio," she replied when asked about potential contacts with "the caretaker of Raúl Castro." The statements were shared on X, where she again called for "freedom for the Cuban people".
The lawmaker defended the role of the current head of U.S. diplomacy and emphasized his knowledge of the situation on the island. “Rubio has Cuba in his DNA; he knows very well who those tyrants are, those bandits, who represent the worst that the Western Hemisphere has seen in the last sixty-five years—the Castro regime—but their time has come,” she stated.
He then attributed the current political moment to Donald Trump's arrival at the White House: “Why? Because there is a man named Donald Trump in the White House, period, nothing more. Neither other Republicans nor other Democrats have done anything for the Cuban people to live as we all do, in democracy and freedom, where everyone can do what they want with their life without being oppressed.”
Salazar's statements come days after Axios and the Miami Herald published reports about alleged discreet contacts between Rubio and Raúl Castro's circle, particularly with his grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as “El Cangrejo,” to explore a potential political transition on the island.
Last week, in statements gathered in an interview where she claimed that “Marco Rubio understands perfectly the evil of the Cuban regime”, Salazar stated: “We couldn't ask for a better interlocutor. If there are any type of conversations, they are not negotiations.”
In that same context, he also stated that Rubio "is not going to negotiate anything. He is going to talk about how the Cuban leaders are leaving and what the different stages of this transition will be," as he declared during an event in South Florida.
Days earlier, when referring to the current political moment, the congresswoman remarked that “The regime is in its final stage and the Cuban people are closer than ever to living in freedom,” as noted in other statements where she acknowledged the pain of Cuban families and promised that freedom is near.
The Cuban regime has denied the existence of formal negotiations and has labeled the reports circulated by the press about possible exchanges as "speculations."
Salazar's latest statements reinforce his stance that any dialogue with Havana, if it exists, would be conditioned by the pressure strategy promoted by the Trump administration, aimed at a political transition in Cuba.
Filed under: