The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described the Cuban leaders as "economically incompetent" on Tuesday and warned that the necessary reforms to lift Cuba out of its crisis are impossible while the current regime remains in power, in statements released by the State Department during an interview on Fox News with journalist Trey Yingst.
"Things can improve in Cuba with serious economic reforms, but not with the current leaders. They are economically incompetent," Rubio stated in the interview, recorded on Monday and aired this Tuesday.
The Secretary of State went beyond economic criticism and accused the regime of having "rolled out the red carpet for adversaries of the U.S. to operate in Cuban territory against national interests with impunity."
Rubio was unequivocal in outlining Washington's limits of tolerance: "We will not allow any foreign military, intelligence, or security apparatus to operate with impunity 90 miles from the shores of the U.S. That will not happen under President Trump."
Rubio's concern is supported by reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which identified at least 12 Chinese signals intelligence facilities in Cuba, with confirmed expansions in 2024 and 2025 at locations such as Bejucal, El Salao, Calabazar, and El Wajay.
The site of El Salao, in Santiago de Cuba, is located just 70 miles from the Guantánamo Naval Base and was constructed starting in 2021, according to U.S. Congressional hearings. In February of this year, U.S. Air Force spy planes flew over the entire Cuban coast to monitor Russian and Chinese radars installed on the island.
The statements made this Tuesday follow a line that Rubio has consistently maintained since taking office. On April 1, in another interview with Fox News, Rubio expressed his hope that "Cuba will fall soon" and anticipated "upcoming changes" in Washington's policy toward the island.
On that occasion, he also stated that "there is literally no economy in Cuba" and that "the economy cannot be fixed without changing its system of government."
That position has been reiterated to journalists from the Department of State: "Cuba's economy cannot change unless its system of government changes. It's that simple."
The activist Rosa María Payá supported Rubio's statements by stating that "there can be no free enterprise without free people."
The economic context described by Rubio is supported by devastating figures: the Cuban GDP has fallen 23% since 2019, with a projected contraction of 7.2% in 2026 alone, and 80% of Cubans believe that the current situation is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s.
The Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against Cuba as of March 2026, and in January signed an executive order that declared Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security.
Despite the regime releasing more than 2,000 political prisoners on April 3 under pressure from Washington, Rubio has repeatedly dismissed these concessions as insufficient without a change in the political system, making it clear that the Trump administration's stance does not allow for any relief while the current rulers remain in power.
Filed under: