The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, avoided confirming whether the public call he made to Cubans to collaborate with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has yielded results and warned that disclosing that information could endanger the individuals involved.
The response came during an exchange with journalists, captured in a video released this Monday by the State Department, when a reporter directly asked whether the call for Cubans to reach out to the U.S. agency had yielded any results.
"Well, I wouldn't tell you if I had obtained any result from the CIA. Come on… Because then those people wouldn’t be doing very well,” Rubio replied.
With those words, the head of U.S. diplomacy left the question about the effectiveness of the initiative unanswered.
He neither confirmed nor denied that Cuban citizens have made contact with the agency, nor did he provide figures on potential collaborators or information received.
The statement was released during Rubio's visit to France, where he is taking part in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7), taking place in Paris on November 9 and 10.
The official agenda for this Monday included meetings with the foreign ministers of Germany and France, in addition to a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
In October, Rubio made a public appeal to those wishing to promote change in Cuba to discreetly collaborate with the CIA.
The message, posted on his official X account, linked that invitation to the unfulfilled promises of the regime, corruption, and the privileges of the ruling elite.
The call drew attention because it came from the highest official in U.S. diplomacy and openly proposed the possibility of establishing ties with an intelligence agency to promote political changes on the island.
One day later, the CIA itself published a guide in Spanish aimed at Cuban citizens interested in contacting the agency. The communication included recommendations to protect the identity of individuals who chose to share information.
The Cuban regime reacted against that call. The Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío , while the Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described it as unserious and childish.
During the exchange broadcast this Monday, Rubio also questioned the lack of freedoms in Cuba and accused the authorities of keeping the population under a system of economic and political dependence.
"The problem with Cuba is that the regime is afraid to grant its people any kind of freedom, whether economic or otherwise, because it likes to control them," he stated.
According to the Secretary of State, the Cuban economic model aims to allow limited activity without relinquishing governmental control over citizens.
He stated that this situation has contributed to the exodus of millions of people from the island, many of whom have gone to the United States.
Rubio also accused regime leaders of keeping large fortunes in international bank accounts and directly pointed to the Business Administration Group S.A. (GAESA), the military’s business conglomerate, which he held responsible for appropriating resources from the population.
The official insisted that Washington seeks to promote political and economic freedoms in Cuba and described the situation on the island as a threat to U.S. interests.
In other statements from the same exchange regarding the future of Cuba, Rubio stated that the United States will do everything possible to help the country change course, although he warned that the Cuban leaders themselves will have to acknowledge that the current model does not offer any prospects for the future.
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