On Monday night, while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, someone asked President Donald Trump about Cuba.
"They'll make a deal," he said. "Cuba is right now a failed nation, and they don't even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off. They're clogging up their runway. We're talking to Cuba right now."
But what he said next caught my attention: "I have Marco Rubio talking to Cuba right now."
.@POTUS: "Cuba is, right now, a failed nation... We're talking to Cuba right now. I have @SecRubio talking to Cuba right now, and they should absolutely make a deal because it's really a humanitarian threat. We have a lot of great Cuban Americans, and they're going to be very… pic.twitter.com/5Fslli5ukx
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 17, 2026
I've heard rumors recently that the administration was in contact with someone associated with the regime — someone who could listen to reason — and some said it was Raúl Castro's 41-year-old grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who goes by Raúlito or El Cangrejo ("The Crab") due to a deformed finger.
Well, if Marc Caputo's Axios report that dropped early Wednesday morning is to be believed, that's true. Keep in mind that the following comes from "anonymous sources" and hasn't been confirmed by the White House or the State Department, but Caputo cites three sources close to the situation, and the Miami Herald also claimed that it confirmed the info via a "source with knowledge of the matter who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue."
According to the reports, Rubio sees the younger Castro as "representing younger, business-minded Cubans for whom revolutionary communism has failed — and who see value in rapprochement with the U.S."
"I wouldn't call these 'negotiations' as much as 'discussions' about the future," an anonymous senior Trump administration official said, adding: "Our position — the U.S. government's position — is the regime has to go. But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Trump] and he has yet to decide. Rubio is still in talks with the grandson."
Another source called the talk "surprisingly friendly." The source continued, "He's the apple of his grandfather's eye, served as the dictator's bodyguard, and also has allies running the mammoth military-business conglomerate known as GAESA."
GAESA dominates the country’s most strategic economic sectors, including tourism, finance, and imports, and it managed approximately 37% of Cuba's GDP, though some say those numbers are much higher.
Axios also reports that Rubio hasn't spoken with high-level officials, like current "president," Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, who is currently in Russia. Based on how those two feel about Rubio, I am not surprised. But, in short, it sounds like the Trump administration is testing the waters to find someone within — a Cuban Delcy Rodriguez, Nicolás Maduro's former "vice president," who is is now the "acting president," aka Trump and Rubio's Venezuelan pawn — someone they can work with in a similar manner to get the country turned around after nearly 70 years of communist rule.
The Miami Herald reports that the younger Castro was "head of personal security when his grandfather Raúl Castro was president and is still his bodyguard and right hand, appearing always close to the ailing Cuban ruler in public." Axios calls him the apple of his grandfather's eye.
Apparently, he lives a lavish lifestyle, often going to Miami in a yacht and staying at luxury hotels. But, according to Axios, he and Rubio don't talk about the past — their conversations are "future-forward." One of its sources notes "their common Cuban heritage and accents that are the lingua franca of Miami and surrounding cities."
"Raulito could be straight out of Hialeah," the person said. "This could be a conversation between regular guys on the streets of Miami."
The Cuban regime provided a statement to Axios denying all of this, stating, "There is no high-level dialogue between the government of the United States and Cuba. There is not even dialogue at an intermediate level. There have been exchanges of messages."
"What exists are the usual conversations that have taken place over a long period of time — or even less than that. Until a year ago, we had regular dialogues at the senior official level with the State Department. Today, that no longer exists," the statement continued.
What we do know is that the humanitarian crisis is worsening by the day. As I've mentioned numerous times, the country is running out of oil reserves. Airports have shut down, and flights have been suspended. Garbage is piling up on the streets, and power and water outages are becoming increasingly worse. Hospitals are canceling medical procedures and surgeries, schools are canceling class, and people are combing the neighborhoods for wood to cook what little food they have.
Many on the left and in the MSM blame Trump's threats of secondary tariffs on any nation that offers to send the country oil for the problem, but the truth is that this has been happening for years. The tariffs may have escalated the situation, but it was already a lost cause.
The U.S. has sent humanitarian aid via the Catholic Church. Other countries, including Mexico, Chile, and Spain, have sent aid as well, though they're dealing directly with the regime, something many in the U.S. have condemned as helping the regime buy time while people suffer.
Axios reports that Trump hasn't made a final decision on Cuba, but either way, it's seeming increasingly likely that the regime's days are numbered. The current situation is not sustainable
As the Cuban regime finally collapses under President Trump, we will keep you updated every step of the way.
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