On Monday, a USA Today reporter asked Donald Trump about the fact that he recently said Cuba wants to make a deal. She said, "What would the United States get in return for that, and why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?"
(Why should we trust Marco Rubio? Girl, please. Where have you been the last year... Oops, sorry, my inner monologue escaped and got the best of me. Back to the president.)
Trump laid it out like this:
Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of State in history. Look at what we’ve done as a presidency. Look at what we’ve done as an administration. They trust Marco, and so do the American people... He’s been successful no matter where he’s been. He also speaks the language, which is always nice and always helpful.
Trump went on to say that Marco is dealing with Cuba and what may end up being a friendly takeover, but he says it may also end up being a not-so-friendly takeover. Either way, it wouldn't matter because the country is in crisis and down to "fumes."
"They have no energy, they have no money," Trump said. "They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis. And we don’t want to see that."
The president went on to talk about how important the Cuban people are to him, and how the regime was largely living off Venezuela. Without its lifeline there, it has nothing.
But they were very, very bad to a lot of people, as you know, and a lot of people living are — the Cuban American vote, which I got at record levels, very important. Those people are very important to me. I know what they went through. They went through hell. Some of them have gone on to be some of the most successful people in the country. Cuban American business people, some of them are like the most successful in the country. And a lot of them are friends of mine because I’ve been fighting this battle with them for a long time. The Castro regime was brutal, but they lived off Venezuela. Now, they don’t live off Venezuela — sends them no energy, no fuel, no oil, no money, no nothing. They lived without Venezuela. They couldn’t have made it. And we cut them off from everything else.
Ultimately, he said, "So yeah, they’re going to make either a deal, or we’ll do it just as easy anyway."
.@USAToday’s @Fran_Chambers: “With respect to Cuba, you said that Cuba wants to make a deal.”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 9, 2026
Trump: “Yes.”
Chambers: “What would the United States get in return for that? And why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?”
Trump: “Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great… pic.twitter.com/0LqwzCjnEW
It's still not clear what the end of the Cuban regime will look like. Trump and Rubio have been purposely vague, and it's possible that even they don't know for sure yet. Rubio has said that they didn't know if or how the Nicolás Maduro operation would go down until sort of the last minute, though it's highly unlikely Cuba will look like that.
There are rumors circulating that the U.S. will make a "major economic deal" with the Cuban "government" that includes easing sanctions and cooperation on various sectors within Cuba, as well as providing an exit strategy for "President" Miguel Díaz-Canel and allowing the Castro family to remain on the island under some protection. Personally, I don't necessarily buy this, nor do Cuban opposition leaders. Allowing the Castros to hang around indefinitely would be a slap in the face of every person in that country. It comes from anonymous sources, and it seems like it would defeat the purpose of the whole plan, but we'll see.
In the meantime, on Monday night, the Cuban people have hit day four of protests over blackouts and general communism fatigue, and the protests are spreading, getting louder, and getting bigger. I didn't write about them on Sunday night, but there were videos and reports of items being set on fire, including some buildings. It's hard to get good video, but here are a few from the last couple of nights:
URGENTE: Protesta en Ceballos, Ciego de Ávila pic.twitter.com/dP1bToptSP
— Javi🇨🇺 (@JaviXCubaLibre) March 10, 2026
🚨 ÚLTIMA HORA
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) March 10, 2026
Se desatan nuevas protestas en La Habana, Cuba, luego de varios días sin electricidad.pic.twitter.com/lp6ZmrqJ6C
🚨BREAKING: Mass protests have ERUPTED across Cuba as tensions explode.
— The British Patriot (@TheBritLad) March 9, 2026
Fires rage in the streets and on buildings. Crowds are banging pots and chanting: “WE WANT FREEDOM!”
The world has had enough of dictators. pic.twitter.com/BtD6iuFFRD
On Monday afternoon, the students at the University of Havana held a peaceful sit-in outside their school. Their complaints were "academic conditions" and the fact that they're being told to do a lot of their schoolwork remotely... in a country with little power or internet access. They also say that the lack of transportation and the mere price of internet access are interfering with their studies. It started with a group of about 20 people, but the number grew over time.
Happening now: A group of about 20 students is carrying out a peaceful sit in to protest conditions at the University of Havana. pic.twitter.com/UYRy3Y2lgc
— Patrick Oppmann CNN (@CNN_Oppmann) March 9, 2026
Independent journalist Camila Acosta also confirmed the sit-in, but she mentioned that it hadn't gone unnoticed by authorities. "Students are standing on the steps of the University of Havana. They are surrounded by the political police. I live nearby and State Security has me under siege," she wrote on social media.
First Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Modesto Ricardo Gómez, came to speak to the students and told them that protesting wasn't going to solve anything. Of course, he then blamed the United States for its problems. Here's more from CiberCuba:
After nearly two hours of negotiation, the students agreed to move to another location within the university to continue talks with the authorities.
Later, the deputy minister told the press that the situation the country is experiencing is due to the 'US oil blockade,' which he described as an aggression that is 'massacring an entire society.'
According to Gómez, the energy crisis affecting Cuba is a direct consequence of this external pressure and generates an 'extremely severe' situation in different sectors of the country, including higher education.
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