Rubio urges Cubans to build "discrete partnership with the CIA" as Havana mocks US "desperation"

Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change on Friday to build a “discrete partnership with the CIA”, writing on X: “To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba — now is the time”, Reuters reports.

Rubio, who has handled much of Donald Trump’s Cuba policy, told those disappointed by their government to “seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA”.

Hours earlier, Trump had revived military-intervention talk at a Fort Myers, Florida rally, saying US warships returning from the war with Iran could stop off Cuba: “We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast … And then we’re going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal”, Arab News reports.

Havana hit back on X. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio wrote: “Now the United States is resorting to public recruitment for the CIA. There must be a great deal of desperation or misery within the agency for it to be forced to sell its services like a tube of toothpaste.”

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez warned of “razor-sharp limestone spikes” awaiting anyone reaching Cuba’s shores with “hostile purposes and lust for domination”. The CIA then posted a Spanish-language X video advising potential sources to visit an official US installation in person if safe, or to use a secure connection, a private browser and a disposable email account to contact the agency online.

A US oil blockade imposed earlier this year has left Cuba with fuel shortages and blackouts; the embargo is over 60 years old, and pressure rose after US forces seized then-president Nicolas Maduro in a deadly January raid.