Will the US Attack Cuba? Rubio, Trump and the CIA Appeal
Rubio Asks Cubans to Work With the CIA Hours After Trump Says He Will “Take Care of Cuba”
Rubio urged Cubans to partner with the CIA hours after Trump said the US would take care of Cuba on its way back from Iran. Havana replied the same day.
In this article
Context
The United States has announced no military move against Cuba. It has said two things in public within hours of each other. At a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday, President Donald Trump said the US would “take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran,” Reuters reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio then posted on X that “now is the time” for Cubans who want change, and offered them “a discreet partnership with the CIA.”
Havana replied the same day. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío wrote on X that the US was “resorting to public recruitment for the CIA.”
Key takeaways
Trump gave no date or operation in his remark, according to Reuters. Rubio’s post and a CIA video in Spanish ask people inside Cuba to make contact, ProtoThema reported. Cuba’s deputy foreign minister and foreign minister both answered on X on Friday. The UN General Assembly votes on the US embargo on 27 and 28 October, ProtoThema said.
What was said
Reuters quoted Trump at the Fort Myers rally on Friday: “We’ll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran.” He said Rubio would then be sent in “to finish up the deal.” According to Arab News, he described warships returning from the Iran war passing the Cuban coast. Reuters noted that Trump said last month he expected a US-Cuba agreement and did not think military action would be necessary.
Rubio, who has handled much of the administration’s Cuba policy according to Reuters, posted on X hours after the rally: “To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba, now is the time.” He told those disappointed by the government to “seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discreet partnership with the CIA.” Arab News reported that the post also cited “failed promises, corruption and the privileged lives of a few.”
ProtoThema reported that the CIA’s Spanish-language video on X told prospective sources to approach an official US facility in person if safe, or to use protected online communications. Arab News listed the video’s online advice: a secure connection, a private browser and a disposable email account.
Fernández de Cossío wrote on X: “Now the United States is resorting to public recruitment for the CIA.” He added that “there must be a great deal of desperation or misery within the agency,” and compared its pitch to selling a tube of toothpaste. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, also on X, dismissed Trump’s remarks and warned that Cuba’s coast is hostile to anyone arriving with “hostile purposes,” Arab News reported.
Analysis
How the statements connect
Arab News described Rubio’s appeal as coming hours after Trump’s rally remarks. Rubio’s post addresses Cubans, and ProtoThema said the CIA’s video gives instructions for reaching the agency.
Both statements followed a week of legal action, Arab News reported. A Florida prosecutor announced a state murder arrest warrant for Raúl Castro, 95, Arab News reported. Arab News said he was indicted federally in May over the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft. Jason Marczak of the Atlantic Council and Sebastián Arcos of Florida International University wrote on 22 October that “neither the warrant nor the indictment is likely to bring Castro into US custody anytime soon,” and that “Washington’s pressure campaign on Havana is gaining new momentum.”
Reuters wrote that a US-imposed oil blockade this year has left Cuba short of fuel, with blackouts. ProtoThema reported that US authorities seized 90 biodiesel shipments bound for Cuba in October, worth about $3 million. On 19 October, it added, US Ambassador Mike Waltz hosted Cuban dissidents and former political prisoners at the UN.
Reuters recalled that Cuba’s foreign minister told the General Assembly in September that Cuba would always be open to dialogue with Washington. On Friday his deputy mocked the CIA appeal and he warned about the coast.
Analysis
What is the US pressure campaign on Cuba?
Reuters wrote that the US embargo is more than 60 years old. After US forces seized Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January, ProtoThema reported, Cuba’s access to Venezuelan oil was restricted. Washington has since added sanctions on Cuban officials and state companies in construction, mining and energy. UN rights experts have called the oil blockade a violation of international law, according to Reuters. The administration has said its goal is to change Cuba’s communist government.
The CIA’s record on the island includes the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, ProtoThema noted.
What to watch
ProtoThema reported that the General Assembly votes on 27 and 28 October on a resolution calling for an end to the embargo, and that such resolutions are not legally binding.
Watch whether Rubio or the White House repeats the “finish up the deal” language outside a rally. A written statement or a deadline would change the reading. Arab News paraphrased President Miguel Díaz-Canel as calling the Castro case legally unfounded. A direct reply from him would be the next Cuban marker.
Trump put Iran first in his own sentence, and the Iran-US talks tracker shows where that file stands. None of the reports reviewed describes a ship moving toward Cuba.
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