Marco Rubio Shows Support for Cubans on 4th Anniversary of July 11 Protests

He expressed hope that ‘Cuba will soon be free, sovereign, and independent,’ and that its fate will be in the hands of its people.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio participates in a press conference during the 58th meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center on July 10, 2025. Mandel Ngan / POOL/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents were Cuban, sent a message to the people of Cuba ahead of the anniversary of the July 11, 2021, mass protests.

“July 11, 2021, is a day that marked a change for us, a turning point in what is happening inside Cuba,” Rubio said in a message that Cuban journalist Mario J. Pentón shared on X on July 9.