Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla dismissively rejected the public call from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to recruit informants in Cuba, labeling it unserious and even childish in an exclusive interview with the New York Times published this Thursday.
"The truth is that I have no idea what the Secretary of State intends with those publications. Frankly, they do not seem serious at all; they come off as somewhat childish," declared Rodríguez, who has been at the helm of Cuban diplomacy for 17 years.
The chancellor responded in this way to the call that Rubio made on October 23 on his X social media account, where he urged Cubans to "seize this opportunity to bring about the change you desire through discreet collaboration with the CIA."
The next day, the agency itself published a seven-step guide in Spanish with operational security instructions for Cubans to contact them anonymously, along with a video shared on their social media.
Analysts described the coordinated action between the State Department and the CIA as unprecedented: it would be the first time a Secretary of State openly calls for the recruitment of informants in a foreign country through social media.
The interview with the NYT took place at the Cuban mission to the UN in New York, during a week marked by escalating tensions between Washington and Havana.
Last Tuesday, Rodríguez starred in a tense altercation at the General Assembly by interrupting the speech of U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, who was accusing Cuban officials of corruption, with shouts and banging on the table.
It was the third time in a year that the Cuban foreign minister interrupted a U.S. diplomat at the UN.
During the incident, a member of the Cuban delegation shouted at Waltz, "You are a liar!", to which the ambassador responded, "Return to your post! Do you understand who you are dealing with?"
The episode resulted in the expulsion of the Cuban diplomat Richard Tur de la Concepción, the first secretary of the Cuban mission to the UN, who was accused of trying to snatch a phone from an American official recording the protest.
Despite the unprecedented pressure exerted by Washington, Rodríguez insisted that Cuba will endure "for as long as necessary" and that U.S. policy "will have to change; it is inevitable that it will change."
The chancellor acknowledged, however, that he had never faced a pressure campaign of this magnitude in his 17 years leading Cuban diplomacy.
U.S. officials have acknowledged to the NYT that they are looking for a "understanding and pliable" figure within the Cuban regime, similar to the role played by Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro was captured. The public request for spies, according to the same report, suggests they are having difficulty finding such a person.
The spokesperson for the State Department, Tommy Pigott, did not hold back in his criticism: "The failed Cuban regime continues to blame the United States and everyone else for its own incompetence and corruption."
The annual UN resolution against the embargo on Cuba approved on Wednesday reflected Havana's increasing isolation: only 130 countries supported it — the lowest level since 1992 — while 17 voted against and 25 abstained.
Ric Herrero, director of the Cuba Study Group, questioned the resistance strategy defended by the Cuban Foreign Minister: "It is easy for Bruno to claim that they are there resisting when it is the Cuban people who are truly suffering the consequences. The harsh reality is that Cuba is alone. They can resist, but it is simply a controlled decline. Ultimately, they are heading towards the abyss."
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