This is his legacy': Marco Rubio nears goal of toppling Cuba's government

The Trump administration’s maximum-pressure campaign against Cuba could destabilize the 67-year-old communist government in Havana and shape US influence across the western hemisphere. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-immigrant son serving as secretary of state and national security adviser, has positioned himself as a trusted aide to Donald Trump while pursuing a long-term objective tied to Washington’s right to assert authority across Latin America. Rubio has told Cubans that the US embargo is not the cause of their hardships and that those controlling the country stand in the way of a better future. The administration has signaled groundwork to unseat Cuba’s government, while a military buildup including the USS Nimitz in the southern Caribbean Sea serves as a show of force. The administration has also built a case that Cuba poses a national security threat to the US.

"For Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who serves as both secretary of state and national security adviser, the US campaign marks his ascendancy in an administration where he has established himself as a trusted aide to Donald Trump and manoeuvred that position to advance a key goal: Washington's right to assert its authority across Latin America."

"In a video released on Cuban independence day this week, Rubio said in Spanish that a US embargo was not the reason for the country's privations, telling Cubans that currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country."

"Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something [about Cuba], Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. And it looks like I'll be the one that does it. So I would be happy to do it."

"The US aircraft carrier Nimitz and its strike group arrived in the southern Caribbean Sea on Thursday as part of a military buildup meant as a show of force against the Cuban government. And the Trump administration has been building a case that Cuba represents a national security threat to the US."

Read at www.theguardian.com