Rubio Offers CIA 'Partnership' as Trump Revives 50-Yard Warship Stop

Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Cubans who want political change to act on Friday, the same day President Donald Trump revived an idea of American warships stopping off Cuba's coast.

Rubio posted a message addressed to those who seek positive change, citing failed promises, corruption and the privileged lives of a few. He told readers they could create the change they want through a discrete partnership with the CIA. Rubio's parents left Cuba before the socialist revolution. The word in his post was written as discrete rather than discreet.

At a rally for candidates in south Florida on Friday, Trump responded to a question from the crowd about Cuba. He described ships returning from the Iran war and said one would stop about 50 yards off the coast. He said the ship would raise its hands and that he would send Marco Rubio in to finish the deal. Trump first raised the idea earlier this year but had not mentioned it in recent months.

Cuba's response came the same day. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio wrote on X that the United States was resorting to public recruitment for the CIA. He said the agency must be in misery to sell its services like a tube of toothpaste.

Rubio has not discussed Cuba in depth publicly for several weeks. In a September 29 interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, he said Cuba has already fallen, describing a country without a functional economy run by people preaching a revolution that has been dead for 20 years. He did not mention a CIA operation in that interview.

Talks between the two countries have moved in different directions. Rubio and other senior aides have met Cuban officials in recent months to explore better relations, but the American side came away unimpressed and more sanctions followed. At the UN General Assembly last month, Trump said Rubio was deep into negotiations with Cuba. Days later he said he expected the two countries would make a deal and that he did not think the military would be needed. This week, the two governments clashed at the UN as Washington sought to build opposition to an annual vote condemning the US economic embargo.

Cuba has faced an economic and energy crisis since 2020. Its gross domestic product has shrunk, and its 10 million residents have dealt with blackouts, food shortages and inflation. Waves of protests have occurred, and hundreds of thousands of Cubans have emigrated, many to the United States.