On the fifth anniversary of the protests on July 11, 2021, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, issued an official statement from the State Department on Saturday with a direct warning to the Cuban dictatorship: "Cuba's leaders must simply commit to real reforms, peace, and prosperity, before it is too late."
The document, titled Five Years After the July 11 Demonstrations, Cubans Deserve A Better Future, recalls that five years ago thousands of Cubans took to the streets in more than 50 cities during the largest anti-government demonstrations since 1959, and that the regime responded by beating peaceful demonstrators and arresting thousands of ordinary citizens.
"To this day, hundreds of Cubans remain unjustly detained for the simple sin of asking for basic rights, opportunities, and dignity," wrote Rubio, reiterating the call for the immediate release of all political prisoners on the island.
According to human rights organizations such as Prisoners Defenders and Justicia 11J, in May 2026, there were 1,281 political prisoners in Cuba, of which at least 338 are serving sentences directly related to the protests of July 11.
The Secretary of State described the Cuban economy as being in "freefall" after decades of repression and mismanagement, with the population suffering from blackouts, hunger, and deprivation.
That diagnosis aligns with a verifiable reality: on July 6, a nationwide blackout was recorded, leaving 9.6 million people without electricity. This was the third total outage this year, with cuts lasting up to 87 consecutive hours in Matanzas and 72 hours in Granma.
Rubio stated that the Trump administration has offered the regime humanitarian aid, assistance for reconstruction, and "the promise of a new relationship" between the two countries, contingent upon real political and economic reforms.
However, he accused the Cuban nomenclature of rejecting any meaningful change: “The regime and its corrupt elites continue to refuse any efforts at significant reform, prioritizing the perpetuation of their total control over the Cuban people and their dogmatic adherence to their failed and morally bankrupt Marxist ideology.”
The statement also addresses the dimension of national security. Rubio accused the regime of harboring military, intelligence, and terrorism operations from countries hostile to the United States less than 100 miles from its territory, and of supporting subversive networks within the country itself.
This statement comes after a sustained escalation of pressure from the United States throughout 2026.
The Trump administration has imposed more than 240 sanctions against the Cuban regime since January, including Executive Order 14404 signed on May 1, sanctions against the military conglomerate GAESA in May, and a new round on June 23 against five entities linked to the military apparatus, including RAFIN S.A. and the International Financial Bank.
The Cuban regime approved a package of 176 economic reforms in June - which include private banking and an expansion of foreign investment - but the State Department described them as "superficial smoke signals", part of a strategy to project openness without relinquishing control.
The anniversary of 11J comes at a time of a new wave of protests in Cuba. In June, a record high of 107 street demonstrations was recorded, nearly double the previous maximum, and in July, protests continued in neighborhoods like Jaimanitas with slogans of "Down with the dictatorship!"
"The United States will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to address the threats to national security posed by the Cuban communist regime, and to promote the economic and political reforms that will provide a better future for Cuba," Rubio concluded in the statement.
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