Marco Rubio and Donald Trump referred to Cuba again this Friday.
MIAMI, United States. – The Secretary of State of the United States, the Cuban-American Marco Rubio, stated that “the fundamental problem in Cuba is that it is run by incompetent people who do not know what an economy is like, much less one that works.”
Right next to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, Rubio assured that Cuban leaders “have chosen political control over the people” instead of “a functioning economy,” and maintained that this dynamic was maintained for “60-odd years” due to the existence of “donors,” first the Soviet Union and more recently, Venezuela, support that, as he said, “is already over.”
“So the people who have control in Cuba have a choice to make,” Rubio added, stating that they can choose “a real country with a real economy where its people can prosper” or “continue with their failed dictatorship that will lead to a systemic and social collapse.”
.@POTUS: Cuba’s in bad shape. Cuba relied on Venezuela for oil, and for money… They’re doing very poorly — Third World all the way… now, they won’t be taking in any money.”@SecRubio: The people in control in Cuba have a choice to make: they can either have a real country,… pic.twitter.com/x3BNpmih5I
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 9, 2026
Rubio added that Washington “has no interest in a destabilized Cuba,” but held the Cuban authorities responsible for this possible scenario, stating that “it would be their fault, because they refuse to allow the people of Cuba to have economic or political freedom, in any case.”
Rubio spoke after Trump invited him to comment on the situation on the island, which the president himself described as a country “in bad condition” that depended on Venezuela “for oil and money.”
Trump maintained that “no one really knows what is going to happen to Cuba” and stated that the country “has no energy” and “has no oil.” In that same passage, he said that Cuba has “very strong people” and “very powerful militarily.”
The president of the United States also stated that there are “many people” in his country who “want to return to Cuba and help Cuba,” and described emigrants who, he said, “arrived penniless,” “had nothing,” but “have become very rich people” and “very much want to return and help Cuba.”
This same Friday too transcended the statements of Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz to the press. During a television interview, the politician presented the Cuban exile as a key actor in an eventual scenario of transition and economic reconstruction of the country.
Cruz linked this possibility with the return of the private sector and described a horizon of prosperity tied to the departure from power of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). “If the communist regime falls in Cuba, you will see many Cuban-Americans with many resources willing to invest, to go and turn that country around,” he said.
Likewise, he maintained that Cuba “could be an island paradise if the communists were out of power and the free market was allowed to return.”
Sharing the fragment of the interview on his social networks, Cruz added: “This is the most promising moment in our lives to see the fall of the communist regime in Cuba. I hope so.”
The senator framed this forecast within a regional reading in which he equated Venezuela’s economic deterioration with the Cuban experience under Castroism. “Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, two communists, came and completely destroyed the economy. It is the same thing that the Castros did in Cuba,” he said.
Along those lines, he added: “I think this is the most promising moment in our lives to see the communist regime fall,” before returning to the point of the exile’s role as a potential investor.
