A federal judge in Florida sentenced a Miami man to two years in prison this Thursday for posting death threats against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the then Special Envoy of the State Department Kristi Noem, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
The convicted man and the charges
Jon Christopher Enríquez, 47 years old, had pleaded guilty in August to three counts of transmitting threats through interstate communications, a crime that could result in up to five years in prison for each count, indicating a maximum exposure of 15 years.
The federal judge Beth Bloom, from the Southern District of Florida, imposed a sentence of 24 months of confinement.
The investigation was conducted by the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State, in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies.
The threats published on X
The events date back to May 27, 2026, when Enríquez posted three public messages on the social network X targeting both officials, with threats of execution at specific times.
According to the agency EFE, one of the messages, directed straight at Rubio, stated: "Before you start thinking that the United States owns Cuba and begin to spout nonsense and call Cuba a failure, the Military Penal Court will start an investigation into you as a failure for your nation."
Another of the publications was even more explicit: "Rubio, Noem... They have been found guilty under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 2384: Seditious Conspiracy. Both will be executed at 4:30 PM. We wish them the best in their future endeavors."
A third message stated that the only way for Rubio to stop talking would be through death.
The profile of the victims
Rubio, son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in 1956, is the first Hispanic to lead the Department of State and was confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2025, with 99 votes in favor and none against.
Since his position, he has maintained a firm stance against the Cuban regime, defending the embargo and pushing for sanctions against officials of the dictatorship. In September 2026, he was officially appointed National Security Advisor, a role he had been fulfilling on an interim basis since May 2025, in a combination of functions not seen since Henry Kissinger.
Noem, for her part, served as Secretary of National Security from January 2025 until March 2026, when President Trump dismissed her amid criticism of her performance.
She was later appointed special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative, a position she held at the time of the threats and continued to serve in until September 2026.
The sentence handed down by Judge Bloom represents less than one-fifth of the maximum penalty faced by Enríquez. The federal prosecution warned that death threats against U.S. officials constitute serious crimes with severe consequences.
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