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The Republican representative Nicole Malliotakis, from New York's 11th district and daugher of a Cuban mother, stated this Tuesday on the "Varney & Co." program on Fox Business that Marco Rubio is the right person at the right time to help free Cuba.
Malliotakis also described the ongoing conversations between Washington and Havana as "critical," referring to the negotiations that the State Department is holding with the Cuban regime in search of structural reforms.
The congresswoman, whose maternal family lost their home and business in Cuba due to the confiscations by the Castro regime, echoed her statements on the social media platform X, directly tagging the Secretary of State: "@SecRubio is the right person at the right time to help free Cuba."
Malliotakis's words come at a time of intense diplomatic activity. On April 10, a delegation of senior officials from the State Department landed in Havana —the first official U.S. aircraft to do so since Obama's visit in 2016— to demand concrete reforms from the regime.
According to press reports, the demands from the U.S. included the release of political prisoners, the opening of internet access with a Starlink offer, economic and political reforms, compensation for properties confiscated in 1959, and the withdrawal of foreign intelligence groups.
The regime confirmed this Tuesday the meeting through the official newspaper Granma, describing it as "equal to equal" and prioritizing the end of the so-called "energy blockade," without accepting U.S. conditions.
On his part, in mid-April, Díaz-Canel admitted he had not spoken personally with Rubio and described the discussions as being in a "very preliminary" phase.
Marco Rubio has been the architect of this maximum pressure policy. On April 1, he stated on Fox News that "you cannot fix their economy without changing their system of government," and in March he refuted reports from the New York Times suggesting negotiations aimed merely at removing Díaz-Canel without altering the power structures, calling them "fake news".
The geopolitical context surrounding these negotiations is unprecedented. The capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026 deprived Cuba of 80-90% of its Venezuelan crude oil imports, and Mexico suspended its oil shipments on January 9, exacerbating the already critical energy crisis on the island.
Meanwhile, this Tuesday, teams from Rubio and the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado began negotiations in Chicago for a transition in Venezuela in three phases: stabilization, economic recovery, and free elections before the end of 2026, a model that is being closely watched as a possible template for Cuba.
Malliotakis is not new to her hardline stance. On January 30, she stated that the Cuban communist regime must disappear for threatening the national security of the United States and oppressing its people, and in February, she signed a letter with other Cuban-American congress members asking the Department of Justice to formally charge Raúl Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.
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