The U.S. offered Cuba $100 million in humanitarian aid, Rubio says. Havana said no
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that Cuban authorities have not accepted an offer of $100 million in humanitarian aid from the United States to help a population struggling with widespread shortages and a crumbling economy.
Speaking to reporters in Italy, Rubio said he discussed the delivery of aid to Cuba with Pope Leo XIV in a meeting at the Vatican on Thursday. He added that the United States wanted to do more to alleviate the suffering of the Cuban population, but blamed the Cuban government for refusing the offer.
“We’ve provided $6 million of humanitarian aid, U.S. humanitarian aid that was distributed by Cáritas, the Catholic Church agency,” Rubio said. “We’re prepared to do more. In fact, we’ve offered the regime $100 million of humanitarian aid that unfortunately, so far, they have not agreed to distribute to help the people of Cuba.
“It’s the regime that’s not accepting it. It’s the regime that’s standing in the way of it,” he added. “We discussed that and we hope we can do it because we do want to help the people of Cuba who are being, you know, hurt by this incompetent regime that’s destroyed the country and the economy.”
The delivery of the aid has been slow and has run into many obstacles, including fuel shortages aggravated by President Donald Trump’s capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, who was sending free oil to the island, and threats of tariffs against other suppliers of oil to Cuba. The administration has carved an exception to its embargo against Cuba, allowing private businesses on the island to import fuel directly from the United States as a palliative measure.
So far, U.S. aid has reached only a few provinces. But sources inside the island involved in delivering the aid, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said the Catholic Church’s infrastructure would not be able to handle a massive influx of humanitarian aid.
The country has received donations from the United Nations, the European Union and other countries, but none near the amount of the U.S. offer. The Cuban government has accused the United States of acting hypocritically and has blamed the country’s long economic decline exclusively on U.S. sanctions.
The two countries have been in talks that appear to be at a standstill. After a meeting in Havana in which senior U.S. State Department officials urged Cuban authorities to make major economic reforms, release political prisoners and address other economic and security concerns, the Cuban government has not taken any substantive steps.
While the Trump administration is willing to provide significant assistance to the Cuban people, it is also ramping up the pressure on the Cuban government.
Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to impose more sanctions on Cuban and foreign companies in key sectors of the Cuban economy. As a result, Canadian mining giant Sherritt International suspended its operations on the island.
Rubio also announced new sanctions on Thursday on GAESA, the Cuban military conglomerate that controls much of the island’s economy, and its head, Gen. Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.
During his appearance in Italy, Rubio explained the rationale behind the sanctions, though he said he did not discuss them with the pope.
“This is a holding company set up by generals in Cuba that has generated billions of dollars of revenue,” he said. “None of which benefits the Cuban people. Not one cent of it benefits the Cuban people.”
The Miami Herald, in a series of exclusive stories based on leaked financial statements from GAESA for 2024, reported that the conglomerate held massive amounts of money, including $14 billion in its bank accounts and $18 billion in current assets, plus several additional billions in Cuba’s currency, the peso.
The military spent most of that money on building luxury hotels, while the government significantly reduced its spending on the public healthcare system, infrastructure, and other key areas. GAESA’s money, much of it believed to be abroad, is separate from the state budget and cannot be audited by the government, a point Rubio made to reporters.
“There’s the Cuban government and they have a budget and then there’s this private company that has more money than the government does,” he said. “None of the money in that company goes to build a single road, a single bridge, provide a single grain of rice to a single Cuban other than the people that are part of GAESA. So that’s what we’re sanctioning, a company that basically is taking anything that makes money in Cuba and illegally putting it into the pockets of a few regime insiders.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 2:18 PM.