The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, dismissed any possibility of foreign investment in Cuba this Friday as long as the regime maintains its system of government, stating unequivocally: without political change, there will be no economic change.
"The economy has to change, and its economy cannot change unless its system of government changes. It's that simple," Rubio stated in remarks to the press that were shared on X by user Eric Daugherty.
The head of U.S. diplomacy posed a rhetorical question that summarizes his stance: "Who is going to invest billions of dollars in a communist country run by incompetent communists, which is even worse than being communist?"
And he concluded with a phrase that encapsulates his diagnosis of the regime in Havana: "The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist."
The statements respond to the announcement made this week by the Cuban government, allowing Cubans residing abroad to invest and conduct business on the Island, an attempt to attract capital to sustain key sectors of the economy amid the crisis.
Rubio was equally straightforward in dismissing the idea that the Trump administration would settle for a purely economic agreement without a change in the government system on the Island.
"That's why their system of government must change, because they will never be able to develop economically without those changes," he insisted.
The Secretary of State also cautioned that economic freedom and political freedom are inseparable: "Economic change is important; giving people economic and political freedom is important, but both go hand in hand, they are intertwined."
In the same exchange, Rubio disqualified all leaks regarding negotiations with Cuba that do not come from him or President Donald Trump.
"Any report about Cuba that does not come from me or the president is a lie, because we are the only ones working on it," he stated, adding, "I promise you have no idea what is happening."
The statements made this Friday intensify the stance that Rubio already established on March 17, when he described the Cuban economy as "non-functional" from the Oval Office and rejected the reforms announced by Havana as insufficient.
He asserted then that the problem is structural and questioned the ability of Cuban leadership to reverse the crisis. "They need to put new people in charge," he emphasized.
That same day, Trump publicly confirmed that Cuba was speaking with Marco Rubio and that they would do something very soon.
The context of these statements is a Cuba in a critical situation: after the fall of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in January 2026, the Island lost the supply of about 26,000 daily barrels of Venezuelan oil, which exacerbated the blackouts and shortages that the Cuban people were already experiencing.
The regime attempted to attract capital by announcing reforms to allow citizens residing abroad to invest in and own businesses on the Island, measures that Rubio rejected for not addressing the structural problem.
Rubio, son of Cuban exiles and a central figure in Trump’s foreign policy, has been advocating for the end of the communist regime in Cuba for decades. In January 2026, he stated before the Senate: "We would love to see a regime change in Cuba. We want that."
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