'Espionage superpower': Rubio warns Cuba poses a 'national security threat' the US can't ignore
WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday, August 1, warned that Cuba should be viewed as a direct national security threat to the United States, arguing that the island nation has long played an outsized role in espionage and influence operations in the US.
Speaking in an interview with Lara Trump, Rubio said Cuba's alignment with US adversaries, combined with what he described as its history of intelligence operations, makes it a security concern Americans should not underestimate.
He also alleged that Havana has helped support activist networks involved in protests across the United States.
Marco Rubio warns Cuba poses security threat
Rubio said Cuba's proximity to the United States and its relationship with countries opposed to Washington elevate it beyond what many Americans perceive as a small neighboring country.
"A failed state 90 miles from our shores that happens to be aligned with adversaries to the United States is a national security threat to our country," Rubio said.
He argued that Cuba has historically exercised influence far beyond its size through intelligence operations and political networks. "People forget that when it comes to things like espionage and influence operations, they actually are an influence and espionage superpower."
Marco Rubio warns Cuba is more than a failed regime saying a hostile state just 90 miles from America aligned with U S adversaries represents a direct national security threat while elites in academia and the media continue defending Havana#NYI pic.twitter.com/K75zlbIPRj
— NewYork-Insight (@NewYork_Insight) August 2, 2026
Rubio pointed to past espionage cases involving the country, including former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha, who was convicted after admitting he had secretly acted as an agent for Cuba, and former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Belén Montes, who was convicted of spying for Havana.
He also claimed Cuba has supported left-wing insurgencies across Latin America for several decades, saying many movements in the region "found its support, its help, in many cases its birth, from a Cuban influence operation."
Marco Rubio alleges Cuba funds US protests
Rubio also claimed Cuba is linked to organized activist groups involved in demonstrations across the United States, alleging the same network has appeared in multiple protest movements in recent years.
"It's the same network of protesters around the country. They were the same people you saw on the streets burning things in 2020."
He continued by alleging the groups later participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, protests supporting ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and recent anti-ICE actions. "There's nothing organic about it. It is funded, it is organized, and Cuba is a part of that network, and in some cases, a critical part of that network."
Sec. Rubio on Radical Left protests in America: "There's nothing organic about it. It is funded, it is organized, and Cuba is a part of that network... and it is a network they will weaponize against us." pic.twitter.com/vpuLhxDYdM
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 2, 2026
Rubio further alleged that the network is intended to influence US policymakers. "It's a network they will weaponize against us... they will use that network to pressure American policymakers, not just here in the United States like Code Pink, but all over the world."
Rubio also claimed sympathy for the Cuban government exists within parts of academia, the media, and even the US government, arguing that Havana has historically exploited those sympathizers for intelligence purposes.
"I know there are plenty of people in American academia and frankly in American press that sympathize with the Cuban regime... we've seen people within our own government," Rubio said. "It's the way they get spies without paying them."
