“Terroristas y desesperados,” by Iramís Rosique, first appeared on Diario Red on 5 Mars 2026. The following is the English translation of a revised, expanded, and adapted version of the original Spanish text.
“The only ones tormented by the hypothetical scenario of a mutually acceptable agreement between Cuba and the US are the Miami mafia, who have been profiting from the suffering of Cubans for 67 years and could then find themselves once and for all stripped of their ridiculous aspiration to play a leading role in Cuba’s destiny. Beneath the mask of euphoria worn by Miami’s political and social fauna, the grimace of despair is already visible.”
— Iramís Rosique
The armed confrontation on February 25, 2026, between Cuban coast guards and a speedboat registered in Florida carrying ten Cubans residing in that state with the aim of committing acts of terrorism within the island, has been one of the recent news stories about Cuba that has captured the attention of the international media in recent weeks. Few will be surprised that this is not the story being told by the mainstream media, which has spent all this time, but mainly since January 3, in the aftermath of the assault on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, intimidating public opinion by brandishing the ragged specter of the unspeakable “evil” of the Cuban government and the need for Trump to destroy it once and for all. Instead, the media space has been flooded with headlines about Cuba’s alleged “murder” of four civilians; civilians who—and this, of course, the mainstream media did not emphasize or even mention—intended to enter the island armed to the teeth and who opened fire on the Cuban coast guard when the latter asked them to stop and identify themselves. In any case, the media and the Cuban Ministry of the Interior have spared no time in reporting point by point on the circumstances of the event. It is not my intention here to try to clarify the matter again: those who have ears to hear, let them hear. What really interests me is to comment on the meaning and possible implications of this new terrorist attempt against Cuba.
As the terrorist boat incident was taking place, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was participating in the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in St. Kitts and Nevis. When asked at a press conference about the incident that had just occurred off the coast of Cuba, Rubio appeared visibly perplexed and upset: “It is extremely unusual to see shootings on the high seas like this. It is not something that happens every day. It is something that, frankly, has not happened with Cuba in a long time.”[1]
Although Mr. Rubio is one of the direct architects not only of the current policy of maximum hostility and pressure of all kinds by the United States toward Cuba, but also of the atmosphere of polarization and anti-Cuban political fanaticism that exists in South Florida, there are good reasons to believe that this time he really had no knowledge of the maneuver. Perhaps to his own chagrin—if you look closely—Rubio’s own statements have shifted over the last two months. In contrast to the traditional Miami rhetoric about the destruction of the Cuban political system at all costs, the Secretary of State has already been heard to say, for example, that “the fundamental problem with Cuba is that it has no economy”[2] or that Cuba “does not have to change suddenly […] it does not have to change overnight”[3].
These words have not fallen either in a vacuum or on deaf ears, but rather amid numerous speculations that Rubio himself and others in Washington, including President Trump, have set in motion about alleged—and never confirmed—ongoing negotiations with the Cuban government, and at a time when the offensive of U.S. imperialism against countries such as Venezuela and Iran has given great hope to the most rabid sectors of the Cuban-American right, who dream of seeing bombs fall once and for all on Havana, as they have already seen them fall on Caracas and Tehran. The mere possibility that the Trump administration might reach some kind of agreement with Havana that respects the sovereignty and integrity of the country’s political system in exchange for greater openness of the island’s economy to the private sector and US foreign investment can only provoke terror in South Florida.
Such a scenario would deal a severe blow to the big business that is Cuban-American politics. It has already been said that, beyond its symbolic value and the political-cultural war underpinning such eventuality, destroying Cuba would not bring significant material gains for the United States. Rather, the collapse of the State and social order on the island and the ensuing chaos would turn Cuba—this time for real—into an “unusual and extraordinary” threat to U.S. national security. The fact that there exists a strong and responsible State on the largest island in the Caribbean, 90 miles from the United States, is a guarantee of security both for the region and in particular for the United States, even if the latter does not admit it publicly. The United States would gain more from maintaining a “civilized” relationship with Cuba, something that Barack Obama understood without renouncing his anti-communist agenda. For Trump, it is enough to be able to sell a good headline, while for the chameleon Rubio, anything that allows him to continue advancing on the MAGA train will be acceptable.
However, such an understanding between the two countries would seriously undermine the political and economic interests of the anti-Castro Cuban-American industry, because if US capital began to have a significant presence in Cuba, Washington’s policy toward the island would cease to be of exclusive interest of and, therefore, would cease to be the monopoly of the Cuban-American mafia. Furthermore, as part of this scenario, the Federal government would be very interested in relieving its taxpayers of the burden represented by the funds allocated to promoting and achieving regime change in Cuba, something that has never been achieved, but which has allowed some to amass juicy fortunes in Florida.
In light of these facts, the terrorist boat plot could well be an attempt by the anti-Cuban mafia to pressure the White House: to provoke a response from the Cuban government, after which Washington would be politically obliged to realign itself with hardliners. It would not be the first time this has happened.
In 1978, a process of rapprochement between the Cuban government and society and its emigrants known as El Diálogo (The Dialogue) took place, an unprecedented effort in which the island’s government met with figures from the Cuban community in the United States to negotiate the release of people prosecuted and imprisoned for counterrevolutionary crimes and to facilitate family reunification. In response, far-right Cuban paramilitary groups, notably Omega 7—classified at the time by the FBI as the most lethal terrorist group within the United States—launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings to sabotage the rapprochement. Carlos Muñiz Varela, a young activist for Puerto Rican independence who organized trips for Cubans to the island, was shot and killed in San Juan.
Also during Bill Clinton’s first term, discreet moves were made toward easing the sanctions imposed on Cuba by the United States and signing immigration agreements. However, the group Brothers to the Rescue, which initially flew over the Florida Straits in search of Cuban rafters, began violating Cuban airspace and dropping leaflets over Havana. After multiple warnings to the United States by Cuba through diplomatic channels about the unacceptability of these incursions, in February 1996 the Cuban air force shot down two light aircraft, killing four of their crew members. As a direct result of pressure from the Cuban-American lobby after the incident, Clinton was forced to sign the Helms-Burton Act. That law deprived the executive branch in Washington of the power to lift the blockade by codifying it as a law that could only be repealed by Congress. This permanently sabotaged any future attempt by the White House to normalize relations with Cuba by decree.
The aim of such actions is to escalate the conflict to a point of no return where no further negotiation is possible. Everything seems to indicate that, as far as Cuba is concerned, the United States has not found anyone within the island’s government and State apparatus whom it can treat as a “partner and friend,” nor is it seriously considering the option of a military incursion, something that various powerful groups in the United States have always been reluctant to do. In the face of Washington’s bravado and threats, Cuba has stood firm. However unpredictable—amateurish, uneducated, erratic, and narcissistic, but with the only militarily unbeatable army in history behind him and a chorus of opportunistic and cynical enablers who do nothing but exacerbate the worst qualities and basest instincts of such an unpolitical animal—Washington has no choice but to revive the Obama hypothesis, no less cynical and imperial but easier to manage for both sides: bending Cuba to its will through the charm—and power—of money would always be more economical than through war and hostility. In that hypothetical scenario, the challenges for Cuba and its Revolution would be different, but no less arduous—any deep contact and trade with the dominant culture of its northern neighbor is distorting and corrupting—although preferable, something that Cuba understood long ago, as demonstrated by its willingness to normalize relations in the past decade.
The only ones tormented by this hypothetical scenario are the Miami mafia, who have been profiting from the suffering of Cubans for 67 years and could then find themselves once and for all stripped of their ridiculous aspiration to play a leading role in Cuba’s destiny. Beneath the mask of euphoria worn by Miami’s political and social fauna, the grimace of despair is already visible. The boat attempt reminds us that they are still the same people who blew up a Cubana de Aviación plane in mid-flight in 1976, killing 73 people, the same people who planted bombs in Cuban hotels, the same people who introduced hemorrhagic dengue fever to the island, the same heartless terrorists as always. Now, it seems they are getting closer than ever to achieving the prize they so desire, but they are also becoming increasingly desperate.
Notes
[1]Paula Rosas, “Qué se sabe del tiroteo reportado por Cuba contra una lancha civil de EE. UU. durante una presunta ‘infiltración’ que dejó 4 muertos y varios heridos”, BBC News Mundo, 26 February 2026, https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c2e4j21n1l8o.
[2] Redacción de La Jornada, “Situación económica de la isla es culpa de su gobierno: Marco Rubio”, La Jornada, 15 February 2026, https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026/02/15/politica/situacion-economica-de-la-isla-es-culpa-de-su-gobierno-marco-rubio.
[3] Café Fuerte, “Rubio: Cuba necesita cambiar, pero el cambio no tiene que ser de golpe”, Café fuerte, 25 February 2026, https://cafefuerte.com/rubio-cuba-necesita-cambiar-pero-el-cambio-no-tiene-que-ser-de-golpe/.
Featured image: Cuban honor guard and mourners stand beside the coffins of the eight bodies recovered out of a total of 73 victims of a bomb attack committed on 6 October 1976 in mid-flight against a Cubana de Aviación civilian aircraft by Cuban terrorists based in Miami. Photo: Cuban press clipping.
Translated from the Spanish original by Rolando Prats.
