The Republican congresswoman from Florida María Elvira Salazar expressed her support this Tuesday for the statements made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding Cuba, posting a strong message on her X account: “There will be no economic change in Cuba without political change.”
Salazar reacted this way to an interview that Rubio gave to Fox News this Tuesday, in which the Secretary of State described the leaders of the Cuban regime as "economically incompetent" and stated that "things can improve in Cuba with serious economic reforms, but not with the current people in charge."
Rubio also reported in that interview that the regime has "rolled out the welcome mat for our adversaries to operate in Cuban territory against our national interests with complete impunity."
Salazar went further in his publication, stating that the Cuban crisis "is not an accident," but rather "the direct result of a regime that has failed its people for decades," adding that for its rulers "power is their only business."
It is not the first time Rubio has taken this position. On April 1, he had already warned on Fox News that there will be no economic improvement in Cuba under the current system, with a straightforward statement: “There is literally no economy in Cuba” and “you can't fix its economy without changing its system of government.”
Salazar, for his part, has maintained a similarly tough stance throughout this year. In March, he declared that there are no negotiations with Cuba that include the departure of Castro, and on April 17, he warned Díaz-Canel that Maduro also promised not to give in and fell.
The economic context surrounding these statements is one of sustained collapse. The Cuban GDP has fallen by 23% since 2019, with a projected additional contraction of 7.2% in 2026 alone, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States on January 3, 2026, Cuba lost between 80% and 90% of its Venezuelan crude oil imports, leading to blackouts of up to 25 hours a day in some areas of the island.
Eighty percent of Cubans believe that the current situation is worse than the Special Period of the 1990s, according to data collected in the administration's dossier.
In that context, the regime announced on April 3 a pardon for more than 2,000 prisoners, but the organization Prisoners Defenders confirmed that none were political prisoners. The measure was dismissed as insufficient by both Rubio and Salazar.
On April 20, President Donald Trump demanded the release of high-profile prisoners such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo within two weeks, a deadline that expires on May 4, 2026, a date that is shaping up to be the next point of tension in relations between Washington and Havana.
Rubio had already outlined in February the model that Washington demands for Cuba: political and economic freedom, expansion of the private sector, real private property, and direct access to international trade without state intermediaries such as the GAESA business group.
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