The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated this Friday that Cuba needs a complete change in its political and economic system, and suggested that the current context could present an opportunity to drive those transformations.
During an exchange with journalists in Washington, Rubio stated that the reality of the country reflects a structural problem that prevents internal development, and pointed out as a sad circumstance that "the only place where Cubans cannot succeed is in Cuba," which he attributed directly to the prevailing model on the Island.
The head of U.S. diplomacy insisted that the solution involves deep modifications at all levels of power. “We need to change the people who are in charge, the system that governs the country must be changed, and the economic model must be altered as well,” he stated, emphasizing that this is, in his view, the only way for Cuba to achieve a better future.
Rubio also hinted that the current moment could be decisive. "We've said it for many years, and perhaps now there is an opportunity to do it," he stated, in a context marked by international pressures and internal protests in Cuba, amid the multidimensional crisis facing the Island.
His statements come alongside confirmed contacts between Washington and Havana, and in line with the stance taken by the administration of President Donald Trump, which has conditioned any progress on structural changes in the Cuban system.
Regarding these negotiations, the Secretary of State dismissed reports from various media outlets citing anonymous sources purportedly close to the Government, and insisted that only President Trump and he could provide reliable information on the matter.
Rubio has also reiterated several times that the island's economy "cannot change" without a transformation of the political model and has dismissed agreements limited to the economic sphere.
In contrast, the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has rejected any modification of the political system and has defended a strategy focused on the “updating” of the economic model without political openness.
According to an interview with La Jornada, his government is committed to a combination of centralized planning and market mechanisms, keeping the Communist Party as the guiding axis of society.
The successive measures, plans, guidelines, and programs of the Cuban government aimed at transforming the country's economy, announced and reiterated ad nauseam by the official press on the Island, have failed time and again. The Tarea Ordenamiento, with its financial readjustment, serves as just one example that has plunged large sectors of the population into poverty.
The president Donald Trump also stated this Friday that Cuba is the next target of his administration, although he later asked the media to “act as if I hadn’t said that, please. Act as if I hadn’t said it. […] Please ignore that statement. Thank you very much. Cuba is next.”
On the Island, submerged in an unprecedented structural crisis, facing fuel shortages, prolonged blackouts, inflation, and extreme deterioration of living conditions, expectations are rising for a change to occur, whether driven by the U.S. government or by internal protests.
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