Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated this Tuesday from the Oval Office of the White House that Cuba needs a radical change in leadership to emerge from its crisis.
His statements were made during the question-and-answer session on the occasion of the visit from the head of government of Ireland, Micheál Martin, and can be followed in the real-time coverage by Eric Daugherty.
"The bottom line is that their economy is not working. It is a non-functional economy," Rubio said, noting that the regime has historically survived thanks to external subsidies.
"That revolution isn't even a revolution; that thing they have has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela," he added.
Rubio was straightforward in pointing out the current leadership's inability to find solutions: "They are in a lot of trouble and the people in charge don't know how to fix it."
His diagnosis was decisive: "They need to put new people in charge" and "they must change dramatically."
This Tuesday, Rubio stated that the reforms in Cuba are not sufficient.
The president Donald Trump himself endorsed the ongoing process on March 17 with a brief but significant statement: "Cuba is talking to Marco Rubio, we will do something very soon".
The day before, on Monday, Trump had described Cuba as a "failed nation" and stated, "I can tell you that they are speaking to us."
The statements are part of a process of secret contacts between Washington and Havana that has gained momentum in recent weeks. According to Politico and Axios, Rubio has held at least half a dozen meetings with Cuban representatives, including Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo," grandson of Raúl Castro and a colonel linked to the military conglomerate GAESA.
A key meeting took place on February 26 in Saint Kitts, during the CARICOM summit.
Notably, these contacts have bypassed the official channels of the Communist Party and President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who confirmed last Friday the existence of the conversations during a Political Bureau meeting, describing them as a "first phase" to establish a bilateral agenda. Vice Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, on the other hand, downplayed them as mere "message exchanges."
The background of this entire dynamic is the severe energy crisis facing Cuba. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, the island has gone more than three months without receiving the Venezuelan oil that accounted for between 25,000 and 30,000 daily barrels, equivalent to two-thirds of its crude oil imports.
Experts warn that Cuba is approaching zero hour due to a lack of fuel, exacerbated by the halt of shipments from Mexico under pressure from Washington and the deterioration of the electrical infrastructure, which has caused the sixth national blackout in a year and a half, leaving between 9 and 11 million people without electricity.
Rubio also recalled that the U.S. embargo is enshrined in the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which restricts the ability of any administration to lift it unilaterally, a factor that defines the scope of any potential negotiations.
This week, Jorge Mas Santos, president of the Cuban American National Foundation, met with Trump and Rubio at the White House.
Upon leaving, Mas Santos was emphatic: "The day of freedom for our homeland is approaching."
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