Rubio says US ready to help Cuba with 'transformations', prefers talks over force

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Washington is ready to help Cuba carry out “transformations” if Havana is open to it, adding that the United States would prefer to achieve change through negotiations and political methods rather than military force.

“I really believe that Cuba has a great opportunity to embark on a path to a better future, and we are ready to assist it in this if it is open to it,” Rubio said at a press conference following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, Izvestia reported.

Rubio said the situation in Cuba would not change without major change, and added that Washington would not be able to work with some representatives of the Cuban leadership. No details of any negotiations were disclosed.

The remarks followed President Donald Trump’s address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, in which he said Rubio was “deep into negotiations with Cuba” and seeking “a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba”, describing the island as “an absolutely failed state” that “will fall”, the Miami Herald reported. Cuban diplomats walked out of the chamber during the speech, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected Trump’s claims on X.

The comments come amid a US blockade on Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba imposed in January, tightened further after Washington’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Aboard Air Force One on Monday, Trump said Cuba should “absolutely make a deal because it’s a humanitarian threat”, according to a transcript of his remarks. Havana blames Washington for the lack of progress in talks: Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said on 7 September that Cuba remains ready for negotiations.