The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is “holding talks with the regime” of Cuba “at a very high level,” in response to a question about whether there will be a regime change on the island “soon.”
In his statements, Trump described Cuba as a nation that "is failing" and going through a "very bad" situation.
"Marco Rubio is working on it and is at a very high level," Trump said, without specifying who those interlocutors would be or where the conversations were taking place. In that same statement, he claimed that they could initiate a "friendly takeover" of the country.
In the exchange with the press outside the White House, Trump insisted on his assessment of the internal situation in Cuba.
"Cuba right now... is a nation that is failing," he stated, adding that he has been hearing about a possible change on the island "since I was a small child," noting that "everyone wanted a change."
Based on that statement, the leader asserted: "I can see that it's happening," before mentioning Rubio's alleged dealings with the Cuban government.
In the same excerpt, Trump stated that Cuba is facing a critical resource situation: "They have no money, they have no oil, they have no food," and added that it is "a nation that is in serious trouble."
He then stated that, under that scenario, “they want our help,” without specifying what kind of support had been requested or under what conditions.
In conversations with the regime
U.S. officials close to Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a private meeting with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Raúl Castro and an influential figure within Cuban power, on the sidelines of the CARICOM leaders' summit in the Caribbean.
According to multiple sources familiar with the conversations quoted by the Miami Herald, the meeting took place in a hotel near the venue of the 50th Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Rodríguez Castro, known in Cuba as "El Cangrejo," is said to have traveled to Saint Kitts accompanied by a protocol officer and left the island that same day.
It is not clear whether Rubio himself participated in the exchange, although his presence at the summit and his team's contact with Castro's grandson reinforce the perception that the Trump administration views him as a key interlocutor in the current dialogue process with Havana.
Although Rodríguez Castro does not hold a formal position in the government or the Communist Party, he is regarded as the closest advisor and trusted confidant of Raúl Castro. He is also associated with overseeing the military conglomerate GAESA, which controls large sectors of the Cuban economy.
According to the report, a Caribbean diplomat stated that in private conversations with regional leaders, Rubio implied that negotiations with the Cuban government are "well advanced," although he made it clear that Washington does not wish to prolong the life of the regime.
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