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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that U.S. sanctions on Cuba are tied to political change on the island, as the country faces widespread blackouts, unrest and a worsening economic crisis.
“Suffice it to say that the embargo is tied to political change on the island,” Rubio told reporters at the White House. “The law, it’s been codified. And, but the bottom line is their economy doesn’t work. It’s a nonfunctional economy. It’s an economy that has survived.… That thing they have, has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don’t get subsidies anymore. So they’re in a lot of trouble. And the people in charge of them don’t know how to fix it. So they have to get new people in charge.”
Rubio’s comments come as Cuba faces a deepening energy crisis that has fueled protests and instability.
A nationwide power grid collapse left roughly 10 million people without electricity, according to U.S. Embassy statements and Cuban authorities.
PROTESTERS TORCH COMMUNIST PARTY HQ IN CUBA AS VIDEO APPEARS TO CAPTURE GUNFIRE
People walk on the street during a blackout in Havana, March 16, 2026. (Ramon Espinosa/AP)
President Donald Trump indicated his administration is actively engaged.
“Cuba right now is in very bad shape. They’re talking to Marco,” Trump told the reporters, “We’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.… We’re dealing with Cuba.”
Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba Monday, saying he expected to have the “honor” of “taking Cuba in some form” and that “I can do anything I want” with the neighboring country.
A senior State Department official rejected claims that U.S. sanctions are responsible for the humanitarian situation, saying, “Widespread blackouts have sadly become common for many years in Cuba — a symptom of the failing regime’s incompetence and inability to provide even the most basic goods and service for its people.”
“This is the tragic result of over 60 years of Communist rule,” the official added. “An island that was once the crown jewel of the Caribbean has plunged into extreme poverty and darkness.
“As President Trump has said, what is left of the regime should make a deal and finally let the Cuban people be free and prosperous, with the help of the United States,” the official told Fox News Digital.
Protesters gather outside a Communist Party headquarters in Morón, Cuba, as a fire burns in the street during overnight unrest. Video obtained by Fox News Digital appeared to show demonstrators attempting to set fire to the building amid protests linked to widespread blackouts. (Reuters)
Cuban human rights activist Rosa María Payá argued that the current crisis reflects systemic collapse inside the regime, not external pressure.
“The blackout is the regime’s collapse made visible: 65 years of totalitarianism finally consuming itself,” Payá told Fox News Digital. “The protests are Cubans refusing to disappear into that darkness.”
She rejected claims that U.S. sanctions are driving the humanitarian situation.
“Cubans are not suffering because of American policy,” she said. “They are suffering because of a dictatorship. Pressure on the regime works. What hurts the Cuban people is legitimizing it.”
“The only way to end the humanitarian catastrophe is to end the regime,” Payá added. “That’s the demand of the Cuban people.”
Recent blackouts and shortages have been linked to failures at key infrastructure, including the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, as well as fuel shortages following U.S. actions to curtail oil shipments from Venezuela, one of Cuba’s primary energy suppliers.
At the same time, Pentagon officials told lawmakers there are no plans to invade Cuba, even as they described it as a long-standing security concern.
Joseph Humire, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas security affairs, said he was “not familiar with any plans on Cuba” when asked during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday.
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Riot police walk the streets after a demonstration against the government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality, Havana, on July 12, 2021. (Yamil Lage/AFP)
He described Cuba as “one of the strongest intelligence adversaries that we’ve had in the United States,” adding that Cuban officials have operated across the region and were “defending Nicolás Maduro… in Caracas” during past operations.
Cuba’s government has blamed U.S. sanctions for worsening the crisis, while U.S. officials argue it stems from decades of economic mismanagement and reliance on foreign subsidies.