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The journalist Juana Carrasco Martín, a columnist for the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde, published an article last Sunday in which she calls U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio a "liar" and rejects his statements regarding the collapse of the Cuban regime, representing the most direct response from the official press to the rhetorical escalation from Washington.
The text, titled "Message to a Rubio from the Thorn That Chokes Him", emerges in response to statements made by Rubio to journalists in Florida, where he claimed that the Trump administration's preference is "always for a negotiated and peaceful agreement" with Cuba, but acknowledged that the likelihood of achieving this "is not high, given who we are dealing with at this moment."
Rubio also described the Cuban system as irreparable: "It cannot be fixed with the current political system in place. They simply do not understand how to do it," and he added that "at this moment, there simply do not seem to be any individuals in charge of the regime who are in any way open to any of those changes."
The Secretary of State also warned that Washington is "very serious" and will not wait for the regime to "tire itself out or buy time."
According to Carrasco's article, Rubio allegedly stated that they would take Raúl Castro to the United States to put him on trial, and when asked if there would be any announcement regarding this, he replied, "We will inform you later, not before."
Carrasco, head of the International Editorial Office of Juventud Rebelde, responds with a combative tone and accuses Rubio of having an "intriguing urge for a war that would destroy Cuba," while also labeling him a "switcher of religions and political loyalties."
The columnist attributes the island's economic decline solely to Washington's policies: "Their measures are what hinder economic development, what seek to provoke desperation and the collapse of the country by cutting off vital fuel, multiplying the blockade and its extraterritorial nature."
The article ignores that the Cuban structural crisis is the result of 67 years of communist dictatorship and an economic model that has systematically failed, regardless of external sanctions.
Rubio's statements are part of a sustained escalation that took place in May 2026. On the 14th of that month, Rubio characterized the situation in Cuba as "unacceptable" and described the island as a "failed state" 90 miles from the U.S. coast.
On May 21, Rubio linked a potential Cuban collapse with a regional migration and security crisis, asserting that Cuba poses a national security threat that the U.S. will "focus 100%" on.
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