Related videos:
Bernie Navarro, the United States ambassador to Peru and son of Cuban exiles, expressed his belief that under the administration of Donald Trump, "a change in Cuba will indeed take place."
"I believe so, with Donald Trump there will be a change in Cuba, I think the signal is there and I believe we are talking about this like never before," stated Navarro to journalist Gloria Ordaz in an exclusive interview granted to Telemundo 51.
Navarro, born and raised in Miami, explained that his personal story as the child of exiles shapes his diplomatic perspective. "I bring the conviction of what we think about communism, and we see that reflected a lot in Peru. We see a significant influence from Cuba in Peru," he stated.
His statements align with the message that the Trump administration has been conveying in recent months. In February 2026, Mike Hammer, chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Havana, had already stated before the Cuban diaspora in Madrid: “Change in Cuba will happen”.
Navarro is part of a deliberate strategy by Trump to place Cuban Americans in key diplomatic positions, especially in Latin America. Alongside him, Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the son of Cuban immigrants — leads foreign policy, while Kevin Marino Cabrera serves as ambassador to Panama, Peter Lamelas to Argentina, and Benjamín León Jr. to Spain.
On May 8th, Hammer shared a photograph with Navarro, Cabrera, and Lamelas, posing the rhetorical question: “Why is it that Cubans are so successful outside of Cuba?”, a direct provocation to the regime in Havana.
In the interview, Navarro also spoke about his long friendship with Rubio, whom he has known since childhood and supported as finance director during his presidential campaign. "We have been friends since we were kids... after we graduated from university, we started in the political process together, getting involved in the political issues of South Florida, and that friendship grew," he recounted.
Regarding the Secretary of State, he added: "I knew Marco Rubio was going to be something big... I knew he is a person that only emerges once in a generation."
Navarro was appointed by Trump in May 2025, confirmed by the Senate on December 19 of that year, and sworn in on January 13, 2026, by Rubio himself in Washington. Trump chose him precisely for his prior knowledge of the Andean country: his wife Claudia is Peruvian and their children are Peruvians of American descent. "That's what the president wanted, for him to start from day one without any learning curve," the ambassador explained.
Among his diplomatic priorities, Navarro highlighted commercial promotion: "The most important thing we have to do as ambassadors is to be the business leader for our businesses." He also emphasized the strategic importance of the Andean country: "Peru is key to the stability of the region, to the economy, and to the prosperity of the area."
Navarro's statements come at a time of maximum pressure from Washington on Havana: the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against the regime, re-listed Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism on January 20, 2025, and signed an executive order in January 2026 declaring Cuba a "unique and extraordinary threat" to the national security of the United States.
Filed under: