U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the Cuban government has declined a $100 million humanitarian aid package offered by the United States, as the island continues to face a severe economic and humanitarian crisis.
Speaking to reporters in Italy after meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican City, Rubio said Washington remains willing to provide substantial assistance to the Cuban people but claimed that authorities in Havana have refused to authorize its distribution.
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“We’ve offered the regime there $100 million of humanitarian aid that, unfortunately, so far, they have not agreed to distribute to the people in Cuba,” Rubio said. “We do want to help the people of Cuba, who are being hurt by this incompetent regime that has destroyed the country and the economy.”
The United States had previously delivered $6 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba in February through Caritas, a charitable arm of the Catholic Church.
Rubio said he raised the issue during his discussions with the Pope, expressing hope that additional aid could eventually reach the Cuban people.
However, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla rejected Rubio’s statement, accusing the U.S. official of fabricating the aid offer.
In a post on X, Rodríguez said Rubio was attempting to mislead both Cubans and Americans while ignoring the economic damage caused by Washington’s sanctions and embargo.
“It takes great cynicism to speak of aid while maintaining an economic war that causes billions of dollars in losses to Cuba,” Rodríguez said.
Cuba is enduring one of its most difficult periods in decades. Repeated failures of the national electrical grid, chronic fuel shortages, and limited access to food, medicine, and clean water have worsened living conditions across the island.
The humanitarian crisis intensified after Hurricane Melissa struck the country last year, damaging infrastructure and deepening shortages.
The dispute comes amid escalating U.S. pressure on Havana. The Trump administration recently imposed new sanctions on Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a military-run business group that Rubio described as central to Cuba’s economic system.
Rubio argued that GAESA controls vast financial resources that do not benefit ordinary Cubans.
“None of the money in that company goes to build a single road, a single bridge, or provide a single grain of rice to a single Cuban,” he said.
Cuban officials maintain that the decades-old U.S. embargo remains the principal cause of the country’s economic hardship, while Washington argues that Cuba’s centralized system and governance are responsible for the ongoing crisis.
As both governments exchange accusations, millions of Cubans continue to face severe shortages and uncertainty, highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian relief and long-term economic solutions.
