The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, released a video in Spanish on Wednesday addressed to the Cuban people, outlining his vision for a "new Cuba" with freedom of the press, private media, free enterprise, and free elections, coinciding with the 124th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic.
The message, shared from his official account on X, was recorded entirely in Spanish and represents, according to specialized media, the first time Rubio has addressed the Cuban population directly in that language in his capacity as Secretary of State.
Rubio outright rejected the regime's narrative regarding the causes of the crisis.
"The reason they are forced to survive up to 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil blockade by the United States. The true reason they lack electricity, fuel, and food is that those who control their country have plundered billions of dollars, and none of that has been used to help the people," he stated.
The Cuban-American politician identified GAESA - the business conglomerate of the Armed Forces founded 30 years ago by Raúl Castro - as the true power on the Island.
Today, Cuba is not controlled by any revolution. Cuba is controlled by GAESA: a State within a State that answers to no one and monopolizes the profits from its businesses to benefit a small elite," he noted.
Rubio noted that GAESA controls $18 billion in assets and dominates 70% of the Cuban economy, with revenues three times greater than the government budget. It profits from hotels, banks, stores, and even retains a percentage of the remittances that Cubans abroad send to their families.
He also accused the regime of relying for years on free oil from Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, and of now purchasing fuel only for its generators and vehicles while asking the people to make sacrifices.
In response to that diagnosis, he presented the Trump administration's proposal: "A new Cuba where you, and not just the Communist Party, can own a television station or a newspaper. A new Cuba where you can criticize a failing system without fear of going to prison or being forced to leave the Island."
The vision also includes the freedom for any citizen—not just the GAESA elite—to open a gas station, a store, a restaurant, a bank, or a construction company, as well as free elections with the right to vote and to replace the leaders.
Rubio compared that vision to the reality of the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Florida. "If having a business and the right to vote is possible around Cuba, why shouldn't it be possible within Cuba?" he asked.
Lastly, he emphasized that the Trump administration has offered 100 million dollars in food and medicine for the Cuban people, on the condition that they be distributed directly by the Catholic Church or other trusted charitable organizations, and not by GAESA.
The Cuban regime initially described the offer as a "fable", though days later it softened its stance and expressed willingness to "listen."
Rubio concluded his message with a direct warning: "In the United States, we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our peoples. And today, the only thing standing in the way of a better future is those who control your country."
The video was produced a day after President Donald Trump stated that he could "fix Cuba" and expressed the possibility of a diplomatic agreement with Havana, and two weeks after Rubio announced direct sanctions against GAESA and its CEO, giving foreign companies a deadline until June 5 to sever ties with the conglomerate.
The regime official Carlos Fernández de Cossío responded to the video by accusing Rubio of "repeatedly lying" about Cuba.
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