Rubio offers Cuba $100 million and decommunization deal: Condition named
Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State (photo: Getty Images)
The US has offered the Cuban people a radical change in the country's development path and massive financial support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally called on people to abandon loyalty to corrupt elites, according to CBS News.
Marco Rubio recorded a special video message in Spanish. This happened immediately after a federal grand jury in Florida formally indicted 94-year-old Raúl Castro for the murder of US citizens.
The Secretary of State is the son of Cuban immigrants. His family left the island two years before Fidel Castro came to power, and now he is offering Cubans a new path and a $100 million humanitarian package.
Aid will be provided, but not through the oligarch clan
Rubio named the organization GAESA as the main enemy of change. It is a huge business structure linked to the political elite, which holds assets worth $18 billion. That accounts for 70% of Cuba's entire economy.
"They profit from hotels, construction, banks, stores and even from the money your relatives send you from the U.S. everything, everything passes through their hands," Marco Rubio said.
According to the official, the money does not reach ordinary people. GAESA takes huge percentages even from private remittances. All the profit ends up in the pockets of a narrow circle of individuals.
The US is offering $100 million in aid, including food and medicine. But there is a condition: the government or GAESA will not receive the money. The food is planned to be distributed through the Catholic Church and charitable groups. This ensures that goods are not resold in state-run stores.
Decommunization and the transition to capitalism
Rubio is confident that 67 years of communist rule must end. Currently in Cuba, only the elite earn money, while ordinary citizens are deprived of the right to do business.
"A new Cuba where you, the ordinary Cuban, and not just GAESA, can own a gas station or a clothing store, or a restaurant," Marco Rubio added in his address.
What preceded Rubio's address to Cubans
The US Department of Justice formally charged former president Raúl Castro with the murder of American citizens. The case involves the deaths of four activists from the "Brothers to the Rescue" group, who helped compatriots leave the Island of Freedom. Their planes were shot down by air defense forces in 1996 when Castro was serving as defense minister.
Analysts say that Trump and Rubio are playing a good cop, bad cop game. Trump threatens, while Rubio offers a carrot.
Meanwhile, the US has begun suspicious activity near Cuba — launching massive aerial reconnaissance. Analysts have already drawn parallels between this and events in Venezuela and Iran.
