The Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed any economic opening towards Cuba this Monday with a firm statement: "We don't need anything from Cuba. It's Cuba that needs us".
Rubio went straight to the heart of the issue: "Their economic system is completely dysfunctional. It is not a real system. And it cannot be changed unless the government changes,” Rubio stated in a video posted on the official account of the State Department, a snippet from an interview he gave to Al Jazeera.
The Secretary of State responded this way to the announcement made by the Cuban regime on March 16, when Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga stated in an interview with NBC News that Cuban Americans can now invest on the island.
Rubio rejected that proposal with a direct question: "A week ago they said that Cuban Americans can now invest in the island. Invest in what? In a country with arbitrary laws, without a real justice system? No one is going to invest in something like that".
The Secretary of State also linked the Cuban economic crisis to the lack of political freedoms: "If I am going to participate in the economic life of a country and I don't like the regulations that the government imposes and that harm me, I should be able to complain. And in that country you can't complain or you end up in jail."
Additionally, the Cuban-American stated that the blackouts that Cuba is experiencing have no relation to the policies of Washington, but are a direct consequence of the incompetence of the Cuban regime and the neglect of its electrical infrastructure for decades.
"These blackouts that are happening have nothing to do with us. They were experiencing blackouts last year. They have them because they have equipment from the 1950s in their electrical grid that they have never maintained or modernized because they are incompetent. That's why they have blackouts."
This stance is not new. Last Friday, Rubio had been equally emphatic: "The system of government in Cuba must change. Who is going to invest billions of dollars in a communist country governed by incompetent communists?". That same day he added: "The only place where Cubans cannot succeed is in Cuba."
The Cuban exile community in Miami actively supports this stance. Cuban-American entrepreneur Iván Herrera, CEO of Univista Insurance, described the regime's investment proposal as "absurd and immoral," stating firmly: "There will be not a single cent of investment from American entrepreneurs in Cuba until the Cuban people are free."
The economic backdrop underlying these statements is extremely serious. The Economist Intelligence Unit projects a 7.2% contraction of the Cuban GDP in 2026, resulting in a total decline of 23% since 2019. The island is experiencing power outages of up to 20 to 25 hours daily, which have been worsened since January due to the cut in Venezuelan oil supplies following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
According to the 2026 Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation, Cuba is the least free economy in America and the second least free in the world, just behind North Korea, with a score of 25.2 out of 100.
Rubio also denied last Friday any ongoing negotiations with Havana: "Any information about Cuba that hasn't come from me or the president is a lie".
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