Secretary of State Marco Rubio offers Cuba 'new relationship' with US in Spanish-language message

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a five-minute Spanish-language video message on May 20, 2026, offering Cuba a 'new relationship' with the United States while condemning the island's Communist leadership and the military conglomerate GAESA, which controls 70% of Cuba's economy with $18 billion in assets. Rubio reiterated a $100 million aid offer in food and medical assistance to be distributed through the Catholic Church, not the government, as Cuba faces severe shortages with electricity available only two hours daily in many areas. The outreach coincided with Cuban Independence Day and an expected Justice Department indictment of former leader Raul Castro for ordering the 1996 shootdown of two Miami rescue planes that killed four people. Cuba's embassy dismissed Rubio as a liar and blamed the island's problems on the U.S. embargo, while Rubio attributed the crisis to regime plundering rather than U.S. sanctions.

Rubio message to Cuban people

• ▪Marco Rubio said the reason Cubans are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil blockade by the United States
• ▪Marco Rubio posted a Spanish-language message to X on May 20, 2026 condemning Cuba's Communist leadership
• ▪Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 20, 2026 that Cuba's people can have a new relationship with the United States
• ▪Marco Rubio's message to Cuba was a five-minute video
• ▪The Cuban Embassy in Washington dismissed Marco Rubio as a liar on May 20, 2026
• ▪Marco Rubio said President Trump is offering a new relationship between the United States and Cuba that must be with the Cuban people and not GAESA

GAESA control of Cuban economy

• ▪The Havana government blames Cuba's problems on the US embargo
• ▪Marco Rubio said GAESA businessmen have $18 billion in assets and control 70% of Cuba's economy
• ▪GAESA is a conglomerate run by Cuba's armed forces and founded by former leader Raul Castro

US humanitarian aid offer

• ▪The United States' $100 million aid offer to Cuba would be distributed through the Catholic Church and other non-government organizations
• ▪Marco Rubio reiterated an offer of $100 million in food and medical assistance from the United States to Cuba

Cuba electricity shortages

• ▪Cuba is no longer receiving free fuel from Venezuela after the Trump administration ousted Venezuela's left-wing leader Nicolás Maduro in January 2026
• ▪Marco Rubio said the real reason Cubans don't have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control Cuba have plundered billions of dollars but nothing has been used to help the people
• ▪Electricity is available for only two hours a day in many places in Cuba

Raul Castro indictment

• ▪The Justice Department was expected on May 20, 2026 to unseal an indictment of Raul Castro charging him with ordering the shootdown of two Miami-based rescue planes in 1996
• ▪The 1996 shootdown of two Miami-based rescue planes ordered by Raul Castro killed four people

Cuban Independence Day context

• ▪President Trump said in his Cuban Independence Day message that the regime in Havana today is the direct betrayal of the nation Cuba's founding patriots bled and died for
• ▪Cuban Independence Day on May 20 marks the establishment of the Republic of Cuba in 1902 after the end of the Spanish-American War and US occupation
• ▪The White House released a message from President Trump on May 20, 2026 marking Cuban Independence Day

Perspective of Cuban government

• ▪The Cuban Embassy in Washington attributes Cuba's economic problems to the US embargo rather than internal mismanagement