Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change to contact the CIA as Washington’s January energy blockade and new legal action increase pressure on Havana.
Rubio wrote on X Friday that “now is the time” for people seeking change, urging them to pursue a “discrete partnership with the CIA.” Reuters reported that his post offered no further details.
AFP reported that the administration put a de facto energy blockade in place in January, threatening U.S. sanctions against any country that supplies fuel to the island. Cuba has 9.4 million people, the agency said.
Florida’s top prosecutor announced this week that Raul Castro, 95, faces an arrest warrant on state murder charges tied to the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft associated with Brothers to the Rescue, AFP reported. The group helped Cubans flee to the United States by sea. Castro was also indicted federally over the incident in May, the agency said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said the federal indictment has no legal basis and is intended to justify military aggression against Cuba, AFP reported.
AFP said Trump and other senior U.S. officials have for months publicly raised the prospect of military intervention or a takeover as Washington seeks an end to Cuba’s communist government. The agency also noted that Trump previously cited a U.S. indictment in support of military action that toppled Venezuela’s then-President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Havana.
At a Florida rally Friday, Trump said U.S. military ships would pass Cuba and suggested one would stop about 50 yards off its coast; he said Rubio would then be sent to “finish up the deal,” AFP reported. EconoTimes previously covered Trump’s comments tying a possible U.S. role in Cuba to the return from Iran. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed Trump’s threats in a social media post, AFP reported.
