Both Sides: Should Rubio openly invite Cubans to work with the CIA?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Cubans who want political change to form a "discrete partnership with the CIA," hours after President Trump told a Florida rally U.S. warships could stop off Cuba; supporters call it pressure on a failing regime, while Havana mocked it as desperate.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
"To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time," Rubio wrote on X Friday, urging Cubans to "seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA." The CIA then posted a Spanish-language video on how to contact it safely, including using a VPN and a burner email, AFP reported. Rubio did not name any operation, Fox News noted.
Why it matters
A public call to work with U.S. intelligence is unusual, and it comes with the U.S. already imposing a de facto fuel blockade on Cuba since January, AFP reported.
More context
The context: At a midterm rally in Fort Myers, Trump said U.S. ships returning from Iran would "pass Cuba" and one would "stop about 50 yards off the coast," adding "we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal." He gave no details of any plan. This week Florida's top prosecutor also announced a state arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, AFP reported.
The case for it: Supporters of the hard line, led by Rubio, argue Cuba's government is failing and hostile. Rubio told Fox News in September that "Cuba has already fallen" and that the U.S. will never let it become "a base of operation against American interests." On this view, openly inviting Cubans to cooperate signals support for change without U.S. troops; Trump said last month, "I don't think we'll need the military."
The case against it: Cuba's deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, called it "public recruitment for the CIA" born of "desperation," and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez warned of "razor-sharp limestone spikes" for anyone arriving with "hostile purposes," AFP reported. The Guardian noted Trump revived the Cuba idea days before midterms, as voters worry about prices tied to the Iran war, and pointed out Rubio wrote "discrete" (separate) rather than "discreet" (secret).
Weak spot: Havana's "desperation" line doesn't address the conditions Rubio cites, which The Guardian itself describes: a shrinking economy, blackouts, food shortages and mass emigration since 2020. On the other side, neither Rubio nor Trump has said what a "deal" would contain or what Cubans who answer the call would be asked to do.
What's still unknown: Whether any CIA operation is under way, what the administration means by a deal, and how Cuba's government will treat citizens it suspects of answering Rubio's call.
Sources across the spectrum This story cites right-leaning and left-leaning outlets. Every source is listed below.
4 listed sources
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Sourcing: Fox News (right-leaning) and CNN en Español and The Guardian (left-leaning), plus AFP. Quotes from Rubio, Trump and Cuban officials are from their public posts and remarks as reported by those outlets. No U.S. Democratic lawmaker's response had been reported when this was written. Photos are file images.
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