Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly invited Cubans who want political change to work with the CIA on Friday, October 23, the same afternoon President Trump told a Florida rally that U.S. warships returning from the Iran war could stop off Cuba's coast before Rubio is sent in "to finish up the deal." Neither gave a timetable, and Rubio's post did not say what a CIA partnership would involve. Rubio has argued that Cuba is a security threat because of its ties to U.S. adversaries; Cuba's government answered that it rejects "every threat related to US ambitions toward Cuba" and mocked Rubio's post as public CIA recruitment.
What Trump said
Trump was speaking at a rally for candidates at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, eleven days before the midterm elections, when someone in the crowd shouted a question about Cuba, according to the Associated Press. "We'll do a little stopover," he said. "Actually, what we're going to do with Cuba is, we're going to come back from Iran. Those beautiful ships will pass Cuba. We'll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast. They'll raise up their hands. And then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal."
Trump has raised the idea before; the AP reported that he first floated it earlier this year but had not mentioned it in recent months. In May he told reporters in the Oval Office that past presidents had considered intervening in Cuba for decades, but "it looks like I'll be the one that does it." His signals have not all pointed one way: after telling the United Nations General Assembly in September that Rubio was "deep into negotiations with Cuba," he said days later, "I don't think we'll need the military. Cuba is failing very badly."
What Rubio wrote
At 4:35 p.m. Eastern time, Rubio posted on X: "To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time. The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA." (The spelling "discrete" is Rubio's; many outlets reported it as "discreet.") That evening the CIA reposted it in Spanish, along with a Spanish-language video on how to contact the agency safely, according to Agence France-Presse.
Rubio laid out his view of Cuba in a September 29 interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. "The truth is Cuba has already fallen," he said. "We're never going to allow Cuba to become a base of operation against American interests or pose a threat to our national security." He and other administration officials have met Cuban officials in recent months to explore better relations, the AP reported, but came away unimpressed, and more sanctions followed. In May, Rubio told reporters that the administration wants to resolve its differences with Cuba peacefully, the AP reported, while voicing doubts that the United States could reach a diplomatic resolution with Cuba's current government.
Havana's response
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla responded to Trump's remarks shortly before Rubio's post appeared, writing in the English version of his post: "We reject every threat related to US ambitions toward Cuba. Our coastline is full of beautiful beaches, but there are also razor-sharp limestone spikes, an inhospitable environment for those who make it to our shores with hostile purposes and lust for domination." Later that night, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío wrote that the United States was now turning to "public CIA recruitment," adding: "There must be a lot of desperation or poverty in the agency's ranks when it has to sell its offers like toothpaste." President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote that the U.S. government "makes clear that it does not renounce its ambitions of domination over Cuba," and that Cubans are "determined to defend" the independence they won in 1959. (Translations from Spanish are Profoundd's.)
Rubio's post drew both praise and criticism in the United States. Rep. Carlos Giménez, a Florida Republican, shared it that evening: "This is the strongest message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio about #Cuba. President Trump is serious about taking decisive action & now is the time for the Castro regime's cronies to abandon ship!" Former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida reminded Rubio of the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, after which "Castro emerged stronger," and added: "Oh, and posting on X asking Cubans to work with the CIA is not 'discreet.'"
The exchange comes as Cubans endure blackouts, fuel and food shortages and inflation in an economic and energy crisis that dates to 2020, made worse, Al Jazeera notes, by failing infrastructure. Since January the United States has maintained what Agence France-Presse calls a de facto energy blockade, "threatening penalties against countries supplying fuel to the island." After the U.S. capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro in January, the administration halted Cuba's oil imports from Venezuela, its main supplier, the Congressional Research Service reported. A January 29 executive order declared Cuba's government an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security, including because it "hosts Russia's largest overseas signals intelligence facility," and provided for tariffs on countries supplying Cuba with oil. Those tariffs were ended on February 20, the day the Supreme Court ruled that the emergency-powers law behind them does not authorize tariffs, but the emergency remains in force, and a May 1 order authorizes sanctions on foreign persons operating in Cuba's energy and other sectors. Rubio rejects the blockade label: "There's no oil blockade on Cuba, per se," he said at the White House on May 5, saying Cuba had lost the "free oil" it used to get from Venezuela; Cuba's foreign minister answered that Rubio "has simply chosen to lie." United Nations human rights experts have called the blockade a violation of international law. Cuba's former leader Raúl Castro, 95, faces federal charges and, since this week, a Florida arrest warrant over the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft; Díaz-Canel calls the federal case legally unfounded. The UN General Assembly is scheduled to vote on October 28 on its annual resolution calling for an end to the U.S. embargo; the administration has sought to build opposition to it.
This article reflects reporting through the afternoon of Monday, October 26, 2026. Sources: The Associated Press via InDepthNH; Marco Rubio on X; Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on X; Carlos Fernández de Cossío on X; Miguel Díaz-Canel on X; Carlos Giménez on X; Debbie Mucarsel-Powell on X; Executive order of January 29, 2026; Agence France-Presse via Arab News; Al Jazeera; the White House orders of February 20 and May 1; the Congressional Research Service; Reason on the tariff ruling; AFP via Asharq Al-Awsat.
