By Hedelberto López Blanch *
Although the title of this commentary seems taken from a tabloid, the reality is that the head of the U.S. State Department, the mythomaniac Marco Rubio, has developed a diabolical obsession with trying to overthrow the Cuban government.
With his long-standing hatred for Havana, Rubio, who overnight became the lapdog of the convicted president Donald Trump, announces a new round of extortion, euphemistically called “sanctions,” almost every week. The latest targeted the financial, mining-metallurgical and energy sectors.
The offensive launched by Washington and its State Department following the Executive Orders of January 29th and May 1st of this year includes sanctions against 40 entities and 38 individuals, as well as an international halt to the Cuban medical assistance program, the dissemination of false news about human rights violations and espionage networks.
A commentary in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada notes that Rubio boasted in a statement that “these designations reflect President Trump’s unwavering vision of a free Cuba.” The State Department under his leadership has once again reinforced its McCarthyist propaganda, reminiscent of the 1940s and 50s, when actors, directors, and screenwriters were persecuted in Hollywood. Charles Chaplin, Orson Welles and Dalton Trumbo were placed on the blacklists of that era. Today, such a phenomenon would be unheard of in the film industry because most of its members oppose the ruling magnate. But Rubio sees communists everywhere, and especially in Cuba.
The truth is that the dictatorship established in the United States after a millionaire, neo-fascist elite came to power cannot allow the model of a small island to prevail in Latin America. This island has provided selfless support to nations suffering from natural disasters or diseases in recent decades, despite enduring an illegal economic, commercial and financial blockade that has lasted for more than 60 years.
This paradigm of Cuba is what they want to destroy by any means, and above all, they want to try to besiege the island and starve its people to death, as the then Spanish Captain General Valeriano Weyler attempted to do by establishing concentration camps against the Cuban population and preventing them from helping the heroic Mambises, an action that caused the death of more than 200,000 civilians from hunger and disease between 1896 and 1898.
Let us remember that as early as April 6, 1960, the United States laid out in writing the foundations of its genocidal policy against Cuba when Deputy Secretary of State Lester D. Mallory defined the philosophy of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed unilaterally months later, which stated:
“The majority of Cubans support Castro… The only foreseeable way to reduce his internal support is through the disenchantment and dissatisfaction arising from economic hardship and material difficulties… All possible means must be employed to weaken Cuba’s economic life… One line of action that, being as skillful and discreet as possible, achieves the greatest advances in depriving Cuba of money and supplies, to reduce its financial resources and real wages, provoke hunger, desperation and the overthrow of the government.”
But if on that occasion the genocidal memorandum was secret, now the Trump administration and its Secretary of State are openly and unscrupulously declaring their intentions.
So much so that in an interview with the right-wing media outlet Axios, Rubio stated that “every time they create a new mechanism to try to escape the noose, we simply tighten it further.”
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, presenting to the press the Cuban Report on the effects of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States, described the US policy as an act of collective punishment against the people, with growing impacts that encompass food, electricity, water, health, education, transportation and the living conditions of families.
The accumulated damages since the implementation of this strangulating policy amount to $178.7 billion, 4.7% more than reported in the previous report.
Likewise, between March 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, the web of unilateral coercive measures and restrictions imposed by Washington caused the Island losses of $8.083 billion — a record figure.
As a small illustration of the sinister figure who heads the State Department, this example is sobering.
In 2016, during the presidential campaign between Trump and Rubio, the latter declared:
“Trump is a con man. He is dangerous and erratic. He is not prepared to be president. We cannot entrust him with our nuclear weapons. His business record demonstrates that he takes advantage of people.”
Back in 2026, as Secretary of State, he said:
“Trump is a president who seeks peace through strength. He prefers diplomatic solutions to military conflicts. He has invested enormous political capital to end wars, such as the one in Ukraine.”
Without any shame, this pathological liar also changes his skin like a chameleon. Judge for yourself, dear reader.
(*) Hedelberto López Blanch is a renowned Cuban journalist. He writes for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones. He is the author of “Cuban Emigration to the United States,” “Secret Stories of Cuban Doctors in Africa,” and “Miami, Dirty Money,” among others.
[ SOURCE: RESUMEN LATINOAMERICANO Y DEL TERCER MUNDO CUBA / EN RESUMEN ]
