Rubio urges Cubans to act as Trump floats warship intervention

Trump proposed a naval stop 50 yards off Cuba’s coast

At a Friday rally for candidates in South Florida, Donald Trump responded to a shouted question about Cuba with a description of a possible naval stopover on the way back from the Iran war. Trump said, “We’ll do a little stopover,” and added: “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.”

Rubio’s appeal came moments after Trump’s rally remarks. Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change to act, saying “now is the time,” and urged them to capitalize on Trump’s plans. In a social media post addressed “to those who seek to create positive change,” Rubio wrote: “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 [sic] partnership with the CIA,” the Guardian reported.

Rubio used the word “discrete.” The Guardian said he seemed to have mistakenly used the word to mean separate rather than “discreet,” meaning private or secret. Rubio had not addressed Cuba in depth in public for several weeks; his previous extensive comments came in a 29 September interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, during which he did not allude to a CIA operation.

In that interview, Rubio said: “The truth is Cuba has already fallen. It doesn’t have a functional economy and it’s governed by people who continue to preach about some revolution that’s been dead for 20 years that’s never worked.” Rubio also said: “We are hopeful that Cuba will choose a different path. We are hopeful … that there will be some people in there that open their eyes to the reality of what they’re facing. We’re never going to allow Cuba to become a base of operation against American interests or pose a threat to our national security. On that we are abundantly clear.”

Rubio, whose parents left Cuba for the United States before the socialist revolution there, has said in public that Cuba lacks a functional economy and is governed by people who continue to preach about a revolution that has been dead for 20 years. In remarks to reporters, he said Cuba had been a national security threat for years because of its ties to U.S. adversaries and that Trump was intent on addressing it. He said the Trump administration wanted to resolve differences with Cuba peacefully, but voiced doubts that Washington could reach a diplomatic resolution with the island’s current government.

In May, Trump and Rubio raised the prospect of U.S. military intervention in Cuba. After the administration announced criminal charges against Cuba’s former leader, Raúl Castro, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that previous U.S. presidents had considered intervening for decades but “it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.”

Trump had first floated the idea earlier this year and had not mentioned it in recent months before the rally. He had previously suggested that Cuba would “be next” in terms of intervention abroad, following the winding down of the Iran war that he had long forecast but which had not yet happened. That earlier proposal was separate from the stopover he described on Friday.

During his address to the United Nations general assembly last month, Trump said Rubio was “deep into negotiations with Cuba” and said he would “not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep.” Days after that address, Trump told reporters that he anticipated that the two countries “will make a deal” and added: “I don’t think we’ll need the military. Cuba is failing very badly.” Earlier this week, the two countries clashed at the United Nations as the Trump administration sought once again to build opposition for an upcoming annual vote condemning Washington’s decades-long economic embargo against Havana.

Rubio and other senior Trump aides met with Cuban officials in recent months to explore possible improvements in relations, but the U.S. side came away unimpressed. The talks led to additional sanctions on the Cuban government.

Meanwhile, Cuba has struggled since 2020 with an economic and energy crisis, and its gross domestic product has shrunk. Its 10 million residents have endured blackouts, food shortages and inflation. Waves of protests have occurred, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have immigrated, many to the United States.

Trump was campaigning days before the midterm elections when he addressed Cuba at the rally. The Guardian reported that voters have expressed concern about the impact of the U.S. war on Iran on prices of goods from gas to groceries.

Rubio’s Friday post made the CIA reference explicit, while his 29 September interview did not allude to a CIA operation. Days after his United Nations general assembly address last month and before the rally, Trump had said he did not think the military would be needed. Trump’s rally remarks revived talk of military intervention.