The Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated this Wednesday that the goal of Washington is not to provoke an economic collapse or to implement a military option in Cuba, but to achieve "a Cuba where the Cuban people can experience prosperity, security, and a better life.", according to statements released by the State Department.
Rubio was straightforward in assessing the situation on the island: "It is a failed state. It is a failed state," he repeated, holding the regime in Havana accountable for the country's deterioration and dismissing any willingness for change on the part of its leaders.
The secretary identified two main causes of the Cuban crisis: an economic model that, in his words, "does not work anywhere else in the world," and the loss of free Venezuelan oil following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026.
Regarding that subsidized crude, Rubio revealed a fact that illustrates the regime's logic: "They took about 60% of the free oil they received from Venezuela and sold it for cash," instead of allocating it to the country's electrical grid.
"The biggest problem in Cuba is that its regime is a disaster, its economic model doesn't work, and the people running the country don't know what they're doing," Rubio stated, adding that Cuban leaders "fear economic prosperity because they know that with economic freedoms, they will lose control over the population."
The secretary also noted that Cuba has lost between 10% and 15% of its population since 2021 as a direct consequence of the regime's mismanagement, referring to the massive exodus that has drained the island in recent years.
In parallel with this diagnosis, Rubio announced that this Wednesday the shipment of more than 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid to Cuba has begun, exclusively distributed by non-governmental entities, without the involvement of the Cuban government.
The first shipment - 18 tons of food and hygiene supplies - left Miami on Tuesday, channeled through Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Cuba as the distribution channel. The plan allocates 60 million to the Catholic Church and 40 million to independent organizations.
Rubio emphasized that Cuba poses a direct threat to U.S. national security because it is "90 miles from our shores" and due to the alliances that the regime has maintained with hostile powers over the decades.
When asked about timelines for a political change on the island, the secretary declined to set any dates: "Global issues are not a miniseries where everything is resolved in three episodes." However, he made his position clear: "I wish it were tomorrow, because the Cuban people deserve it. The people in charge there right now simply do not want to do it. It's a shame."
Rubio's statements come as part of a maximum pressure strategy against the military conglomerate GAESA, which controls between 40% and 70% of the formal Cuban economy, with expanded sanctions in May and June 2026 under Executive Order 14404 signed by President Trump.
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