By Francisco Delgado Rodríguez on April 4, 2026
Mr. Rubio
It must be said that the phrase “Cuba continues” leaves room for all sorts of speculation…
This past March 2026 has, had little or nothing to do with Cuba, both figures blared out, as always, a string of threats—some veiled—with enough ambiguity to be interpreted, depending on the notable anti-Cuban rhetoric from President Trump and his advisor on international affairs, Mr. Rubio. Amid events viewed through a strict logical lens several conclusions can be summarized.
A first, more obvious conclusion is that both the president and, in the background merely repeating the same thing, Mr. Rubio, had promised their fervent anti-Cuban followers that after “expeditiously resolving the Iran issue,” they would come after Cuba.
The promise even had a deadline, starting from the day the attacks against Iran began, February 28—a “little war” that, at a Tea Party in Mar-a-Lago, they calculated would last, at most, 15 days. In other words, by March 16, a “Venezuela-style” change was already expected in Havana, whatever that might mean.
The facts have clearly turned out differently: not only is Iran still repelling the attack, but the debate has shifted focus, and now the question is whether we can already speak of a strategic defeat for the “Epstein State”—as some call the combination of Trump and Zionism, and we all know why.
In a few simple words, the deadline was not met due to Cuba’s resilience and to the heroic conduct of the Iranians, whose leaders promptly made clear that their struggle was not only for their country but for all peoples threatened by the empire; and well, everything suggests that this is exactly the case.
Another consideration that stands out, linked to the previous one and to the overwhelming reality, is that, constantly navigating between bluster and virtual unreality, Chief Trump has had no choice but to proclaim supposed victories over his actions, celebrate crushing defeats of his opponents, scheduling them and postponing deadlines, always under the pressure that every minute the conflict drags on represents a percentage drop in national and international support for the conflict and for him personally.
And this is not a temporary situation; everyone knows that in a war there can be winners or losers who were not in the forecasts; but Trump’s role—which is why he was elected, among other things—is to make the world see that, even though there are practically no objective reasons left to maintain the former U.S. geopolitical hegemony, one must pretend otherwise.
As for Mr. Rubio, just recall what is already known. Getting Trump to announce that “Cuba is next,” amid a narrative about the imminent collapse of the “Iranian regime,” is undoubtedly an extraordinary achievement in terms of appearances. This is no small matter; just put yourself in the shoes of the Secretary of State, who has been mandated to seize the moment and put an end to the Cuban Revolution. And the fact is that the situation is becoming more complex, appearing increasingly adverse to those aspirations.
Trump avoids being clear in his threats or in announcing what his plans against Cuba are. It is true that in a way this is his own style, designed to influence negotiations in his favor, which is paradoxical because then, what is the point of boasting that he can invade his island neighbor whenever he wants, if he is moved by a spirit of negotiation—which, as is well known, is another option the White House has pursued toward Cuba.
In this back-and-forth, Washington has maintained only one unshakable stance, wielded as a sort of pretext for intervention: namely, that Cuba is a failed state, on the verge of collapse, says the White House occupant—without getting into so many “boring details,” he must think. Mr. Rubio echoes this by blaming the Cuban authorities for the effects of the very cruel measures they themselves impose. To this, the Cuban foreign minister responds: “There is no need for asymmetric, abusive, and ruthless aggression like this against a government that is considered incompetent.” Pure logic.
Returning to the specific events mentioned, both Trump and Mr. Rubio alluded tangentially to plans to bring “prosperity to Cuba” and other such nonsense. Let’s see.
On Friday, March 27, in Miami, one of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Priority Summit 2026 events was held, where a group of billionaires—or rather, their representatives—gather to discuss the best investment options. The first edition of this meeting took place in Saudi Arabia, back when events could still be held there, of course, and it was provisional in nature, fitting into the now-apparently-outdated scheme of generating investments in the U.S. and the rest of the First World at the expense of oil wealth converted into petrodollars.
In that context, President Trump assured the immediate future of Cubans for the umpteenth time, apparently because he likes to tailor his remarks to his audience, which reportedly included illustrious oligarchs of Cuban origin, as well as less wealthy individuals with Cuban surnames, all engaged in the counterrevolutionary industry using mafia-like methods.
It must be said that the phrase “Cuba continues” lends itself to all manner of speculation, as noted above. It can be seen as a virtual declaration with a whiff of war, or even another ploy to drag the Cuban authorities into some sort of gratuitous concession and, always, to maintain psychological pressure on the Cuban people. In Trump’s case, any scenario is possible; it is the most basic of considerations.
On the same day, the 27th, in a different time zone, the U.S. Secretary of State was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of G7 foreign ministers at the Abbey of Vaux-en-‑Cernay, near Paris; here, Mr. Rubio attempted to convince the “allies” of the legitimacy of the war against Iran, insisting on dragging some of the meeting’s attendees into that conflict.
Mr. Rubio took the opportunity to sneak his personal anti-Cuban agenda into the mix. The responses given there to the envoy of the Cuban-American mafia have not been sufficiently reported. However, it became known that his explanations to justify the tremendous cruelty with which they are behaving toward Cubans were not accepted; on the contrary, those present maintained their traditional stance of rejecting the blockade.
So, speaking of stories, rhetoric, and lies, Mr. Rubio could think of nothing better than to explain later to the media that questioned him that the problem with Cuba is that it wants free oil, which is why it had to be blockaded in terms of energy. If anyone thought that stupidity knows no bounds, they are absolutely right; Mr. Rubio has just proven it, perhaps without caring or even realizing it. Not content with that, he admitted that the U.S. aim in doing this was to bring about regime change in Cuba.
It is unclear what the repercussions of these blunders will be not only on U.S. public opinion—which will almost certainly reject them—but also on Trump himself, who is determined to assure his MAGA base, above all, that they are not seeking regime change here or on the planet Pluto, should they decide to invade it because it has oil or something like that.
To help Mr. Rubio, one could only explain that he apparently reacted quite stubbornly due to so many failures per minute, to a certain extent cornered by circumstances. Remember, he failed to convince the “allies” to join in the senseless killing of Iranians, or even to help protect the Zionists, and to top it all off, they apparently changed the subject when he began with his anti-Cuban rhetoric.
This is no small matter; Mr. Rubio may realize that without sufficient isolation against Cuba, any intensification of aggression—even as it is currently proposed—will, on the contrary, lead to the United States’ isolation multiplying, precisely what any foreign ministry must avoid.
And the issue is not whether U.S. leaders care about that or not—arrogance aside, it’s not quite like that—because, for example, given the level of rejection they now face, they have eventually found themselves alone in their war against Iran, a country they had managed to stigmatize, sanction, and isolate, if you’ll pardon the redundancy. And as has been said, this situation of being left practically alone is happening for the first time, at least since the Vietnam War—and we all know how that turned out.
And Cuba is far from that situation. Compared by some to a Gaza without bombs, it could be said that rarely in the history of the dispute between Cuba and the U.S. have any of its many crimes against the Caribbean nation—such as this energy blockade—drawn so much international condemnation, from the people to the overwhelming majority of the world’s governments.
In any case, Mr. Rubio, the architect of Trump’s foreign policy, is unequivocally the main culprit behind the debacle into which they have plunged the U.S. on the international stage. Yes, Trump is certainly the boss, but Mr. Rubio wields enough bureaucratic power to have influenced a different course of action. He’s in deep trouble, to put it simply.
The political and practical value of the diplomatic and international arena should not be underestimated. Certainly, the authorities in Washington may believe that sitting atop a “mountain” of deadly shrapnel is enough to impose their will. But it doesn’t work that way.
And this nuance is not the result of an anti-Trump and company stance. No, even journalist Tucker Carlson, one of the ideologues of Trumpism/MAGA, admits that without negotiation, without diplomacy, only military might remain, recalling that with Trump it seemed to work until, well, the Iranians put the brakes on him, as they say.
Closely linked to the above, the Trump administration now bears the burden of another extraordinary defeat: having lost the communications initiative. It has become so divorced from reality that whatever credibility or capacity to influence the world politically and ideologically it once had is evaporating at the pace of the war in the Gulf.
Added to this is the extraordinary rejection by growing segments of the U.S. population, mobilized in numbers estimated at more than 8 million protesters in the “No King”—that is, No Trump—demonstrations on March 28, the day after the events mentioned here. And this is another extremely important consideration that becomes evident as this troubled month of March 2026 comes to a close.
Regarding Cuba, nothing can be ruled out, and at the very least, preparations must continue to face the worst-case scenario—that is, an armed attack of some kind. Certainly, the outlook appears more difficult for such a military option than, for example, following the treacherous attack on Venezuela. In any case, it is still not sufficiently clear how Trump will extricate himself from the quagmire in Iran, nor when; and the clock continues its inexorable march, though still some seven months away, toward the midterm elections on the second Tuesday of next November, when, according to those in the know, Trump’s power will be seriously damaged.
Ultimately, speculating about the enemy’s plans against Cuba only serves their interests; some, with a dry palate, demand transparency, that the Cuban authorities clarify matters, underestimating the importance of timely and precise denunciation, as well as prudent silence.
The history of Cuban heroism speaks for itself, and it never needed media spectacles or debates on social media; after all, those who fought alongside Che in Bolivia did not appear on the television programs of the time, those who fell defending the sovereign rights of Africa, in Angola or Ethiopia, likely never even spoke into a microphone; and more recently, the 32 comrades who died in Caracas on January 3rd did everything under Martí’s maxim that “it had to be done in silence.”
Source: CubaSí, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English