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A photograph of Secretary of State Marco Rubio wearing a gray Nike Tech Fleece athletic outfit, similar to the one Nicolás Maduro wore on the day he was transported to New York after being captured by U.S. military forces, sparked a wave of reactions among Cubans on social media this Tuesday. Many interpreted the image as a possible symbolic allusion to the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The photo was posted this Tuesday by Steven Cheung, the White House Communications Director, on his X account with the message: "Secretary Rubio sporting the Nike Tech 'Venezuela' on Air Force One!".
In the image, Rubio stands with his hands in his pockets, wearing a gray marled Nike Tech Fleece hoodie and joggers—identical to those worn by Maduro when he was transported handcuffed to the USS Iwo Jima on January 3, 2026—though he is wearing Adidas sneakers, which also sparked dozens of humorous comments about the "betrayal" of brand consistency.
The secretary was at that moment aboard Air Force One heading to Beijing, where he is accompanying President Trump on his state visit with Xi Jinping.
The Cuban community in exile quickly began to connect the dots with comments filled with irony and political speculation. "He's giving us clues," wrote one netizen. "They already have the clothes ready, #CUBANEXT," pointed out another user. "The message is clear, there will be an extraction in Cuba," declared another Cuban. "As a joke and especially as a message, it's very good. Later, according to the 'trend', the color orange is coming," added one person, referring to the prison uniform.
Other users were more direct: "Tick tock," "Canel, run while you have time," and "Subliminal message, something good is coming," were some comments on the post by CiberCuba on Facebook.
The photo was published on the same day that Trump stated that Cuba is asking for help and announced that he would discuss the matter just hours before leaving for China. "Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!" the president wrote on Truth Social.
The recent political context has led many users to interpret the gesture as a symbolic message. On May 7, Rubio announced new sanctions against GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls between 40% and 70% of the Cuban economy, accumulating more than 240 sanctions against the regime since January 2026. That same day, Rubio warned the regime: "The Trump administration will not stand idly by while the Cuban communist regime threatens our national security in our hemisphere."
The gray Nike Tech Fleece tracksuit had already become a cultural phenomenon since the capture of Maduro. When Trump published the image of the former Venezuelan dictator handcuffed and blindfolded aboard the USS Iwo Jima, searches for the garment skyrocketed to the highest peak on Google Trends, and the model—renamed "Maduro grey"—sold out in nearly all sizes on Nike's website in the United States.
No official from the White House explicitly explained the intention behind the image, but the post from the official account of the White House Communications Director fueled interpretations on social media.
Casually, Díaz-Canel also responded this Tuesday with a defiant statement: "Cuba does not threaten, nor does it challenge, but it also does not fear."
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