Rubio Calls Cuba a 'Failed State' as US-Cuba Tensions Escalate
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described Cuba as a "failed state" that has "already fallen," remarks that come amid mounting friction between Washington and Havana. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, Rubio said the island's economy is not functional and that its leadership keeps invoking a revolution that ended long ago. "Well, the truth is Cuba has already fallen," Rubio said. "It does not have a functional economy, and it is governed by people who continue to preach about some revolution that has been dead for 20 years. It's never worked."
The secretary of state went further, saying the country's core problem is that it is now "a failed state in every sense of the word." He acknowledged that the Cuban government can jail and kill people, calling it a regime that has done so, but argued that this does not make it a working government or a working country. He also said corruption and theft drive the system.
Rubio pointed to the wave of Cubans who have left the island since 2021 as further evidence of failure. He said Washington hopes some Cuban officials will "open their eyes," restructure the government from within and eventually secure economic and political freedom. According to him, that process would require a transition period. He warned those who keep repeating revolutionary slogans that they are mistaken if they think they can simply wait out the current US administration without making any changes, adding that they will learn the lesson the hard way if they do not adjust course.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla responded sharply, accusing Rubio of repeating what he called a specific list of lies meant to justify collective punishment against the Cuban people. He said dozens of delegation heads at the United Nations had rejected that approach in recent days. In a post on X translated from Spanish, Rodríguez Parrilla wrote that Rubio represents an aggressive policy that is repudiated and isolated, sustained only by force and intimidation rather than truth or reason. He ended the post with the hashtag #CubaNoEsUnaAmenaza, saying the blockade is the real threat, not Cuba.
The exchange follows President Trump's speech to world leaders at the UN General Assembly last week, in which he said the United States wants "fundamental change" from Cuba and promised that "freedom will be coming to Cuba." Trump called the island "an absolutely failed state" that is "failing like never before" and "will fall." The Cuban delegation walked out of the chamber during his remarks.
At the UNGA, Cuban officials pushed back on the president's assertions, citing the US-imposed fuel blockade that has restricted the island's oil supply and damaged its energy grid, along with additional sanctions. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel last week criticized the United Nations for giving Trump a platform to threaten his country. In a post on X on Saturday, Díaz-Canel wrote that the "executioners of Gaza, Iran, Cuba" cannot keep threatening, bombing and plundering while boasting about their crimes before the international community. He added that when genocide is normalized, doors are opened to others, and that this is how fascism reemerges.
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