The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) joined the coordinated campaign of pressure on Cuba this Saturday by posting on its official X account a quote from its commander, General Francis L. Donovan, amplifying the CIA's call to Cubans to collaborate with the intelligence agency.
"The future of Cuba belongs to those who take action. Seize the moment and create the change you want to see. No more broken promises, rampant corruption, or tolerating an elite class that lives in luxury while citizens are ignored. Now is the time," wrote Donovan in the post, which directly retweets the previous message from the CIA in Spanish.
It is the first time that SOUTHCOM has explicitly joined a call for intelligence recruitment directed at citizens of a foreign country.
The action of SOUTHCOM is the third link in a public and coordinated chain.
On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on his social media a call for Cubans to collaborate "discreetly with the CIA" to create a "positive change." Hours later, the CIA published its own message in Spanish —almost identical to Rubio's— accompanied by a video of nearly two minutes and a seven-step operational guide on Instagram.
This detailed CIA guide includes security instructions: use a VPN that is not from Cuba, Russia, Iran, China, or any country considered hostile to the United States; browse in incognito mode; create disposable emails and clear your history.
The agency also requested that those who contact them indicate their city and country of residence, job position, level of access to information, and secure contact details.
Analysts described the public coordination between the State Department and the CIA as the first time in history that a Secretary of State has openly called for the recruitment of informants in a foreign country through social media.
The episode occurs amid a sustained escalation. In August, the New York Times revealed the creation of a secret CIA task force dedicated exclusively to Cuba, designated as "Priority 1," on the same level as China, Iran, and Russia.
Donovan himself had met with high-ranking Cuban military officials on the perimeter of the Guantanamo naval base in May.
The Cuban regime replied with a defiant rhetoric. The Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío described the call as a sign of "desperation" and compared the CIA's offer to toothpaste advertising.
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla was more direct: “On our shores, there are beautiful beaches, but there are also dog teeth”, he warned, referring to those who arrive "with hostile intents and desires for domination."
From the opposing side, Cuban-American Congressman Carlos A. Giménez celebrated the initiative with a powerful statement: "The regime in Havana must be relegated to the dustbin of history, and I know that day is closer than ever."
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