Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently discussed the progress Venezuela has made since the removal of President Nicolas Maduro from power by the United States military four months ago. In contrast, he noted how Cuba continues to flounder economically.
In an interview with Fox News, Secretary Rubio said that Venezuela is a “country of incredible wealth, but all the wealth was being stolen. It wasn’t going to benefit the Venezuelan people. So, we’ve created mechanisms. All the money they make on oil now goes into a bank account in New York, and it’s audited by [the accounting firm] KPMG, and it’s being used to pay the salaries of teachers and firefighters and police officers and university professors. So, for the first time in over a decade, the wealth of the country is actually benefitting the people of Venezuela,” he added. “Venezuela is a better place today than it was four months ago, but it needs to continue to stay on that path.”
The situation in Cuba, however, is a very different, acknowledged Secretary Rubio. “There is no economy in Cuba. To the extent there’s any wealth in Cuba ... it doesn’t go to the people. It doesn’t even go to the government. The wealth is controlled ... by a company owned by military generals. They take all the money. They’re sitting on billions of dollars. ... This is a country where people are literally now eating garbage from the streets, but they have a company that controls all of the money making there that’s sitting on $15-16 billion.”
The United States continues to seek meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system. Indeed, the State Department has publicly restated the United States’ generous offer to provide an additional $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people. It would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations.
The decision rests with the Cuban regime to accept this offer or deny critical life-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical assistance.
Moreover, there are many investment opportunities in Cuba, said Secretary Rubio, including tourism, significant mineral deposits, and rich farmland. Cuba also has an enormous expatriate community in America that would go back and invest in the island nation. “So, Cuba should not be a poor country,” said Secretary Rubio. “Its people should not be starving. Its people should be prosperous.” It’s ironic, noted Secretary Rubio that “the only place in the world where Cubans can’t seem to prosper and succeed is in Cuba.”
It’s time for the Cuban regime to change that and do what’s in the best interest of its people.