Marco Rubio Says Cuba Needs a ‘Very Drastic’ Change and Dodges Questions About His CIA Appeal

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, October 26, that Cuba needs “a very drastic change,” without specifying what it would consist of. “We believe Cuba needs a very drastic change, and I’ll leave it there,” he said in a teleconference with reporters, according to AFP. The remark came three days after Rubio publicly invited Cubans seeking change on the island to establish a “discreet partnership” with the CIA.

What Marco Rubio told reporters

Asked why he was encouraging people to contact US intelligence rather than promoting peaceful action, Rubio replied: “I can’t answer that.” He added that Cuba “is a very different case from Venezuela” and that he would say no more. He did not clarify what concrete measures that “very drastic change” would involve.

The call to cooperate with the CIA

On Friday, October 23, in a message on X reported by CBS News, Rubio addressed those seeking positive change in Cuba: “this is the moment.” He mentioned broken promises, corruption and the privileged lives of a few, and urged them to “seize this opportunity” to create that change through a “discreet partnership with the CIA”.

Soon afterward, the agency circulated a video on X with instructions in Spanish on how to contact it. The regime’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, responded on X that Washington was now resorting to “public recruitment” for the CIA, according to AFP.

Trump, warships and a Cuba deal for Rubio to “finish up”

That same Friday, at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, President Donald Trump said that warships returning from the Middle East after the war with Iran could make a “little stopover” off Cuba, and that he would then send Rubio “to finish up the deal.” We covered those remarks here.

Back in late September, Trump had told reporters he expects the two countries to reach an agreement and that he does not think it will be necessary to use the military. Since February, he has floated a possible “friendly takeover” of Cuba on several occasions, without explaining what it would mean.

An island without Maduro and in crisis

Pressure from Washington has intensified since US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3. With his fall, Havana lost its main regional ally and the Venezuelan oil that sustained it. In late January, Trump signed an executive order threatening tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba. On October 19, Florida’s attorney general obtained a state arrest warrant against Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue planes, a case in which he already faced a federal indictment unsealed by the Justice Department in May.

Meanwhile, the island is going through an energy, supply and basic-services crisis, while the regime keeps political and security control and human rights organizations continue to document political prisoners and the absence of free elections.

What comes next

Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a central figure in Washington’s policy toward the island, defends a maximum-pressure line from the State Department. His message now combines the demand for deep change with an explicit invitation to work with US intelligence. What he has not explained is the scope of that change: whether he means more economic pressure, a negotiation with Havana, or something more.

Over to you: is inviting people to contact the CIA a real path to change, or does it expose those living on the island? Tell us in the comments.

Read this story in Spanish: Marco Rubio insiste en que Cuba necesita un cambio «muy drástico» y evita explicar su llamado a la CIA.

Correction (October 27, 2026): An earlier version of this story misquoted President Trump’s remarks in Fort Myers and Secretary Rubio’s message on X. Trump said the warships would make a “little stopover” off Cuba and that Rubio would be sent “to finish up the deal”; Rubio called for a “discreet partnership” with the CIA. The quotes have been corrected.