US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offers Cubans 'new path' in special video address
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Send
Reddit
Linkedin
Messenger
Telegram
VK
Bluesky
Threads
Whatsapp
Addressing the Cuban people directly in Spanish, Rubio accused the country's communist leadership of theft, corruption and oppression.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered Cubans a "new path" in a special video address on Wednesday hours before Washington was expected to criminally indict the island's former leader Raúl Castro.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Addressing the Cuban people directly in Spanish, Rubio accused the country's communist leadership of theft, corruption and oppression.
"President (Donald) Trump is offering a new path between the US and a new Cuba," said Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants.
"A new Cuba where you have a real opportunity to choose who governs your country and vote to replace them if they are not doing a good job."
Tensions between Washington and Havana have spiked in recent months since US forces ousted Cuba's regional ally Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid and then imposed a painful energy blockade on the already economically struggling island nation.
Trump has repeatedly signalled that the Cuban government could be next to fall and earlier this month even said Washington would be "taking over" the Caribbean island, only around 145 kilometres from Florida, "almost immediately."
"In the US, we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries," Rubio said, according to an official English translation of his speech published by the State Department.
"And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country."
In his speech, Rubio accused Gaesa, the military-backed conglomerate estimated to control some 40% of the Cuban economy, of enriching the elites at the expense of ordinary citizens.
"A 'state within the state' that is accountable to no one and hoards the profits from its businesses for the benefit of a small elite," Rubio charged.
"And the only role played by the so-called 'government' is to demand that you continue making 'sacrifices' and repressing anyone who dares to complain."
The US Justice Department was expected to announce criminal charges against 94-year-old Raúl Castro on Wednesday, who succeeded his brother Fidel as president of Cuba and oversaw a historic 2015 rapprochement with the United States under Barack Obama that Trump later reversed.
CBS News reported that the possible indictment would focus on the 1996 downing of two civilian planes manned by anti-Castro pilots, citing US officials familiar with the matter.
Energy blockade
One of Cuba's last economic lifelines was cut in January when US forces toppled the strongman leader of oil-rich Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and instituted a fuel blockade.
Last week, Rubio renewed an offer of $100 million (€85 million) in aid on the condition that the assistance be distributed by the Catholic Church, bypassing the government.
"The Cuban people should know there's $100 million of food and medicine available for them right now," Rubio said. "It's in our national interest to have a prosperous Cuba, not to have a failed state 90 miles from our shores."
In a post on X, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.
"The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced," he said.
Despite tensions, inter-governmental talks are ongoing, with a high-level diplomatic meeting taking place in Havana on 10 April, the first time a US government plane landed in the Cuban capital since 2016.
Go to accessibility shortcuts Share CommentsRead more
US reportedly seeks to indict Cuba's ex-president Raúl Castro as energy crisis deepens
Marco Rubio says Cuba's leaders must go as US offers country €85 million in aid
Cuba accuses US of 'extorting' Latin America by forcing countries to cancel doctors deals
Схожі новини
Will Raúl Castro’s indictment push US and Cuba closer to war?
Pompeii’s 2,000-year-old mystery vessels finally revealed by 3D scans: How Romans built them, and why their function remains a mystery
Швеція передала Україні репліку бойової хоругви Богдана Хмельницького – МЗС
