Secretary of State Marco Rubio walks a diplomatic tightrope in the Caribbean, pressing for change in Cuba while regional leaders warn of a deepening humanitarian and migration crisis.
EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Before launching strikes on Iran, President Trump held out the possibility of what he called a, quote, “friendly takeover of Cuba.” He says Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the lead on that, and this past week, Rubio was at a regional summit in the Caribbean the day of a shootout between Cuban border troops and a stolen Florida-registered speedboat that left at least one American dead. But as NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports, Rubio’s response to that incident was tempered as he focused on the big picture, pushing for change on the island where his parents were born.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: During his one-day trip to St. Kitts for the Caribbean Community’s regional conference, Secretary Rubio tried to walk a fine line. He heard concerns from some leaders of CARICOM about fuel shortages and a humanitarian crisis in Cuba following the U.S. ouster of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, a key funder of Cuba’s communist government.
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MARCO RUBIO: I think virtually any – everyone in the room agreed that Cuba’s status quo is unacceptable. Cuba needs to change. It needs to change. And it doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next. Everyone is mature and realistic here. We’re seeing that process play out, for example, in Venezuela.
KELEMEN: In Venezuela, the U.S. is working with Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez. In Cuba, there’s no comparable figure, though there are reports that Rubio has opened a channel to Raul Castro’s grandson.
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RUBIO: I won’t comment on any conversations we’ve had, suffice it to say that the United States is always prepared to talk to officials from any government that have information to share with us or viewpoints they want to share with the United States. And that’s my job, to do that.
KELEMEN: At the end of this week’s CARICOM meeting, the prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Michael Drew, was also tight-lipped about reported conversations with Cuban officials there. He would only say that CARICOM is focused on making sure the region is stable, and that means preventing a collapsing economy in Cuba and a new migrant crisis.
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PRIME MINISTER TERRANCE MICHAEL DREW: At this time, CARICOM’s focus – let me put it that way – is on the humanitarian situation in Cuba.
KELEMEN: The U.S. Treasury Department is allowing some oil sales to Cuba but only to the private sector. And that private sector is tiny, says Juan Gonzalez, who worked on Latin America policy in the Obama and Biden administrations.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And it won’t necessarily move the needle on the humanitarian grounds, but it’ll allow them to say that they’re not responsible for the ongoing humanitarian collapse. So it puts the onus back on the Cubans to open up the economy. So I think it’s, more than anything, a face-saving measure by the administration.
KELEMEN: As a Florida senator, Rubio criticized the Obama administration’s opening to Cuba when the U.S. did promote private businesses. In some ways, Gonzalez says, the Trump administration is doing that again but through coercion.
GONZALEZ: Look, I think there are many scenarios in which this goes horribly sideways, both in Venezuela and Cuba. But Rubio may pull this off, right? He may actually get some significant economic openings on the part of the Cubans, and that would be a positive thing.
KELEMEN: But there’s also a danger, he says, that Cubans will focus more on regime survival, and that could lead to an economic collapse and force more Cubans to get on boats to flee. Secretary Rubio says it’s time for Cuba to make dramatic reforms.
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RUBIO: If they want to make those dramatic reforms that open the space for both economic and eventually political freedom for the people of Cuba, obviously, the United States would love to see that and would be helpful. If they decide they’re going to dig in and just continue forward, then I think they’re going to continue to experience failure, and the people of the country are going to continue to suffer, and it’ll be the regime’s fault.
KELEMEN: President Trump says Cuba is out of money, adding, quote, “maybe we will have a friendly takeover of Cuba.” He made the announcement just hours before launching strikes on Iran. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
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