The president Donald Trump stated this Friday that his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will be actively negotiating a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump also noted that once that term is over, Rubio will take care of Cuba and joked about sending the parachute-deployed Secretary of State.
The statements were made during the CPAC Circle Retreat and Gala, a private gathering of the American conservative movement held at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
The video of the speech was shared by the official CPAC account on the social media platform X.
"I want to thank Marco Rubio, who will be the best Secretary of State. Right now he is working on the agreement with Russia [and Ukraine]. It's a great agreement, and I believe he will come back with something very soon, and then he'll take care of Cuba," Trump said to the attendees at the event.
Next, the president referred to an image he has used several times: "We're going to parachute him over Cuba, just tell him to sort it out, Marco. He'll figure it out. His parents were born in Cuba, so it's a great story."
The statement was not accompanied by any announcement of military action or specific measures toward the island.
Trump used the parachute joke for the first time on October 27 during a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas. Days earlier, in Fort Myers, Florida, he envisioned U.S. warships stopping 50 yards off the Cuban coast with Rubio closing "the deal." In September, during the week of the UN General Assembly, he suggested dropping it in Cuba from an aircraft carrier.
The speech at Mar-a-Lago came at a politically charged time for the Trump administration. Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in the legislative elections on November 3, although the new Congress will not assume its duties until January 2027.
The day before the event, Trump announced that Stephen Miller would replace Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff of the White House starting November 9.
On Thursday, Trump met privately at the White House with Kirill Dmitriev, the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, declaring that a peace agreement was "very close" and would be "great," potentially covering "all of Europe." Trilateral talks between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine were scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11.
Rubio, who has been serving since September 22 as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, has been the main architect of Washington's maximum pressure policy towards Havana.
On November 5, the State Department announced sanctions against ten targets linked to the Cuban regime, including a maritime network for oil transportation, state entities involved in imports, and Chinese suppliers of military equipment.
After the legislative elections, there were reports about a possible exit of Rubio from the Government to prepare a presidential candidacy in 2028, which both the State Department and the White House dismissed as "completely unfounded fake news."
Rubio himself denied it in an interview with The New York Times published on the eve of the CPAC meeting: "Working for President Trump until the end of his term has always been my plan."
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