“In the US, we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries,” Rubio said, according to an 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.”
In his speech on the day when the Cuban community in the United States marks the island’s independence, Rubio accused Gaesa, the military-backed conglomerate estimated to control 70 percent of the Cuban economy, of enriching the elites at the expense of ordinary citizens.
“A ‘state within the state’ that is accountable to no one and hoards the profits from its businesses for the benefit of a small elite,” Rubio charged. “And the only role played by the so-called ‘government’ is to demand that you continue making ‘sacrifices’ and repressing anyone who dares to complain.”
Four US Congress members expressed hope that the indictments will see justice served.
“We have a different president now, a president who is not willing to look the other way,” Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told reporters during a press conference. “We expect that today justice is finally arrived.”
Representative Nicole Malliotakis of New York added: “This a Communist regime that has brutally killed, tortured its people, and much of it was work of Raul Castro himself.”
“We hope this will be a turning point for the Cuban people,” she said.
While Cuban Americans on Wednesday marked Cuba’s independence, the Cuban government emphasizes different dates in its historical narrative, particularly the victory of Fidel Castro’s revolution on January 1, 1959.
“Intervention, interference, dispossession, frustration: that is what May 20th signifies in Cuba’s history,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a post on X, referring to the Platt Amendment, an addendum to Cuba’s pre-communist constitution that allowed Washington to intervene militarily in Cuba.