Rubio invites Cubans to work with the CIA as Trump says the U.S. will ‘take care of Cuba’

By Ifeoma Larkin

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday invited Cubans who want “positive change” in their country to work with the Central Intelligence Agency, and the CIA reposted his message with a Spanish-language version and a video explaining how to contact the agency, CBS News reported.

“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba – now is the time,” Rubio wrote on X. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA,” according to CBS.

The administration has framed its Cuba policy around the island’s economic collapse and its government’s ties to U.S. adversaries. Rubio told reporters during the United Nations General Assembly in September that he was “certainly not going to threaten anything,” but that Cuba’s leaders “have an opportunity to begin the process of forever positively changing that country,” USA Today reported. “No one is going to invest in Cuba under their current governance model,” he said then, arguing that the issue “is not just about political freedom” but about giving private investors confidence that their money will not be taken.

President Donald Trump addressed Cuba the same day at a midterm campaign rally in South Florida. “We’ll take care of Cuba on our way back from Iran,” he said, referring to U.S. Navy warships deployed near the Strait of Hormuz, CBS reported. “Those beautiful ships will pass Cuba. We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast. They’ll raise up their hands, and then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal.” USA Today reported that Trump called it “a little stopover.”

Havana responds

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla answered on X on Friday. “We reject any threats stemming from U.S. ambitions toward Cuba,” he wrote, adding that the island’s shores “are lined with beautiful beaches, but they are also rugged and inhospitable to those who arrive with hostile intentions and a desire for domination,” according to CBS News.

A year of pressure

The posts follow months of economic and legal pressure on Havana. The U.S. embargo and sanctions have coincided with sharp rises in the price of basic goods and reduced access to medical care, with Cubans reporting hours-long waits in bread lines, CBS reported. Last week, the U.S. government announced new sanctions on Cuba’s state-run bank, saying the institution had ties to Iran, according to the same report.

The White House sought an economic deal with Cuba in March, and in May the Justice Department indicted former President Raúl Castro and five other Cuban nationals, charging Castro with trying to kill Americans, which he denies, USA Today reported.

Rubio, a Cuban American former senator from Florida, has long made Cuba policy a signature issue. The Inquisitor has covered related business lobbying, including a former Interior Department solicitor’s registration to lobby for Gillon Capital, which is seeking U.S. licenses tied to Sherritt International’s Cuban nickel and cobalt operations.

What comes next

Neither the State Department nor the CIA has publicly described what a “partnership” would involve beyond the contact instructions in the CIA’s video. Trump did not specify at the rally what he meant by taking “care of Cuba.”

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. The State Department and the White House were already contacted by the Inquisitor today on other matters. The Inquisitor could not verify published press email addresses for the CIA, the Cuban Embassy in Washington or the Democratic staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This story will be updated with any response.