Marco Rubio does not hide the personal significance that Cuba holds in his life and political career. The son of Cuban immigrants and for years one of the strongest voices in Washington against the regime in Havana, the Secretary of State has now drawn a clear line between his roots and the responsibilities he carries in the government of Donald Trump.
"I care about Cuba. Obviously, I have a personal connection to it, but I do not work for Cuba. I work for the United States," Rubio stated during an interview with Katie Miller at the Department of State, where he was accompanied by his wife, Jeanette.
The statement came after Miller directly asked whether Cuba could be "the next" following the U.S. operation that culminated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
Rubio avoided responding in those terms, but he expressed confidence that, before the current administration ends, Cuba will be on an "irreversible" path towards "a very different future". He also warned that dismantling a system established over decades will require a transition and will not happen overnight.
However, in explaining why Cuba holds a priority position on Washington's agenda, Rubio explicitly sought to separate his family history from his institutional responsibility.
"I believe it is in the national interest of our country to have a Cuba that is secure, stable, and aligned with the United States," he stated, before extending that same consideration to Venezuela.
Precision is significant in a politician whose Cuban-American identity has accompanied him throughout nearly his entire public career.
When he assumed the role of Secretary of State in January 2025, Rubio spoke in Spanish during his oath and recalled his parents, Cuban immigrants who arrived in the United States in 1956. His appointment also made him the first Hispanic to lead U.S. diplomacy.
But from the State Department, Rubio has insisted on framing the policy toward Havana not as an issue determined by its origins, but as a matter directly related to American security.
In April, he argued that Cuba cannot be analyzed in the same way as conflicts in the Middle East or Asia because it is only 90 miles from Key West and within the American hemisphere. “That’s why it matters to us; that’s why it’s important,” he stated at the time.
This geographic proximity has been complemented by another argument: the presence of strategic adversaries of Washington on the island. Rubio has accused the Cuban regime of harboring intelligence facilities linked to China and Russia, and warned that the United States will not allow foreign military or intelligence apparatuses to operate with impunity so close to its shores.
The Secretary of State had already established a similar distinction in May. "The future of Cuba belongs to the Cuban people", he said at that time, while making it clear that Washington would indeed act against what it considers a threat to its national security. He also rejected the idea that U.S. policy aims to become an external "nation-building" project.
Rubio warned on that occasion that a potential systemic collapse in Cuba could directly affect the United States through a new migration crisis, violence, or instability just a few miles from its shores.
Their new words seem to reinforce exactly that point.
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