Marco Rubio spent months negotiating with Cuban communists.
Now Trump just told Florida voters that the Navy ships coming home from Iran are stopping 50 yards off Havana first.
And what Donald Trump said Rubio does next is the reason every Cuban-American in that building is already calling their cousins.
The Moment That Stopped the Rally
President Donald Trump was at Alico Arena in Fort Myers Friday – his first rally in that corner of Florida since he packed Hertz Arena in Estero days before the 2018 midterms.
He was there to put Byron Donalds in the Florida Governor's mansion and Ashley Moody back in the Senate.
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But Trump being Trump, he saved his biggest moment for the issue that matters most to a third of the room.
"We're going to come back from Iran," Trump told the crowd. "Those beautiful ships. We'll pass Cuba. We'll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast."
Then he paused.
"They'll raise up their hands, and then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal," he said.
The building erupted.
Florida is home to roughly 61% of all Cubans living in the United States – and most of them have been waiting 60 years for a moment that sounds exactly like that.
Why This Is Different From the Last Time America Tried
Barack Obama opened relations with Cuba in 2014 with a handshake and zero leverage.
The Castro regime got tourism dollars, diplomatic recognition, and eased sanctions.
Cuban political prisoners stayed in prison.
Cuba's relationship with Russia and China deepened anyway.
Trump's approach couldn't be more different.
He declared Cuba a national security emergency via executive order in January and moved immediately to shut off the Venezuelan oil keeping the island afloat.
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In February, he confirmed Rubio was in active talks with Cuban leadership.
By March, he was predicting Cuba would "fall pretty soon."
By May, a U.S. aircraft carrier group was in the Caribbean and Trump was telling audiences America would take control of Cuba "almost immediately."
Rubio told reporters separately that Cuba's deep ties to Russia and China made it an active threat to American national security – and that the Trump administration was done looking the other way.
That's not Obama's Cuba policy.
That's maximum pressure from a man who understands leverage.
“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba – now is the time,” Rubio wrote on X. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.”
What Rubio Walking In After a Navy Carrier Actually Means
Sixty-three years of communism survived every American president who was unwilling to apply real pressure – economic, military, and diplomatic – at the same time.
Trump is the first one willing to do all three.
The sequence he described Friday – Iran first, then the ships turn toward Havana, then Rubio walks in – isn't improvised bravado.
It's the same playbook that got the Abraham Accords done when every foreign policy expert in Washington said it was impossible.
You project strength.
You create pressure.
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You give the other side one clean exit.
Then you send your best closer.
Marco Rubio is the best closer available for Cuba – a Cuban-American who speaks the language, knows the history, and carries the credibility of the United States Secretary of State behind him.
A deal that ends 63 years of communist tyranny 90 miles from Florida would be the single biggest foreign policy achievement of the Trump administration.
And Trump is already talking about it like it's a done deal.
Sources:
- Jacob Ogles, "Donald Trump rallies Fort Myers for Byron Donalds, Ashley Moody, floats Marco Rubio mission to Cuba," Florida Politics, October 24, 2026.
- "Trump teases US will be taking over Cuba on our way back from Iran," BizPac Review, May 2, 2026.
- "'Incompetent Communists': Marco Rubio Hammers Cuba's Leadership Amid Trump's Takeover Threat," Mediaite, March 20, 2026.
- "US aircraft carrier group arrives in the Caribbean. Trump announces 'help for Cubans,'" Liga.net, May 20, 2026.
- "Trump strongly suggests Cuba make a deal 'BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,'" White House / Truth Social, January 2026.
