OAN Staff Lillian Mann
2:28 PM – Thursday, May 21, 2026
In a special video address, Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined a “new path” forward for Cuba, including a $100 million package of food and medical aid.
The video message came just hours before the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the criminal indictment of Raúl Castro on murder charges, along with five others who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida on Wednesday.
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Addressing the people directly in Cuban Spanish, Rubio voiced concerns about the country’s communist leadership, pointing to extreme levels of corruption, theft and oppression within the government.
“President [Donald] Trump is offering a new path between the U.S. and a new Cuba,” said Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. “A new Cuba where you have a real opportunity to choose who governs your country and vote to replace them if they are not doing a good job.”
Tensions have heighted between Washington and Havana in recent months after U.S. operations successfully captured Cuba’s regional ally, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, on January 3rd for drug trafficking charges.
“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” Rubio said, according to an official English translation of his speech released by the State Department. “And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”
Several Republican members of Congress expressed hope that the indictments would bring a measure of justice.
“We have a different president now, a president who is not willing to look the other way,” Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told reporters during a press conference. “We expect that today justice is finally arrived.”
“This a communist regime that has brutally killed, tortured its people, and much of it was [the] work of Raul Castro himself,” Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) added. “We hope this will be a turning point for the Cuban people.”
Cuba is currently facing a widespread blackout affecting much of the country, as its already fragile power grid has collapsed amid a severe fuel shortage. Officials and analysts attribute the crisis to a prolonged disruption in oil imports which has left the island unable to sustain electricity generation.
Venezuela had long been a key supplier of oil to Cuba, but those shipments have been significantly reduced following the Maduro’s capture.
“The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil ‘blockade’ by the U.S. As you know, better than anyone, you have been suffering from blackouts for years,” Rubio emphasized. “The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people.”
“President Trump is offering a new relationship between the United States and Cuba,” the secretary of state continued. “But it must be directly with you, the Cuban people, not with GAESA.” Rubio was referring to the Cuban conglomerate owned and operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Rubio stressed that the aid should be distributed to the Cuban people through the Catholic Church or other official charity organizations to ensure it is not diverted by GAESA for resale in state-run stores.
“A new Cuba where you, the ordinary Cuban, and not just GAESA, can own a gas station or a clothing store, or a restaurant,” Rubio proclaimed.
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