← Videos · Foreign Policy & Defense

Secretary Rubio Addresses the Cuban People on Independence Day, May 20, 2026

May 20, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:05:15

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the Cuban people directly in a recorded video message released by the State Department for Cuba’s Independence Day, May 20, 2026 — the anniversary of the Cuban flag first flying over an independent country in 1902. Speaking to Cubans enduring what he called unimaginable hardships, Rubio argued the cause is not a U.S. oil “blockade” but those who control the country: thirty years ago Raúl Castro founded GAESA, a company owned and operated by the Armed Forces which, Rubio said, holds $18 billion in assets, controls 70 percent of Cuba’s economy, and profits from hotels, construction, banks, stores, and even remittances — while nothing reaches the Cuban people. “Today, Cuba is not controlled by any ‘revolution.’ Cuba is controlled by GAESA,” he said, calling it a state within the state accountable to no one.

Rubio said President Trump is offering a new relationship directly with the Cuban people, not with GAESA, beginning with $100 million in food and medicine to be distributed by the Catholic Church or other trusted charitable groups, “not stolen by GAESA.” He described a “new Cuba” in which ordinary Cubans — not just those close to the GAESA elite — could own a business, open a bank, own a television station or newspaper, complain about a failing system without fear of jail or exile, and choose who governs them. “In the U.S. we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” he closed. “And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.” The message was also released in Spanish; that upload is recorded in the index as an alternate source of this page.

Why it matters

The message is the administration’s Cuba case made directly to the Cuban public by the first Cuban American Secretary of State: GAESA named as the sanctioned obstacle, a dated $100 million aid offer with a non-regime delivery condition, and political and economic freedoms paired as the terms of a new relationship.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the $100 million food-and-medicine offer to the Cuban people, conditioned on distribution by the Catholic Church or trusted charities outside GAESA channels, as stated in the Secretary’s May 20, 2026 message. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio Message to the Cuban People on Their Independence Day” (official upload, embedded above); message text via state.gov as reproduced with the release. Spanish-language release (4o70pQ3-sQY) recorded as an alternate source.