The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, Johana Tablada de la Torre, recently stirred up controversy on social media by publishing a lengthy message blaming U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for "forcing" hundreds of thousands of Cubans to emigrate through his policies.
In her Facebook post, Tablada accused Washington of "torturing the Cuban population for purposes of interference, destabilization, plundering, regime change, and domination."
Tablada de la Torre attributed the harsh and inhumane measures against Cuba to the Cuban-American leader of the State Department, claiming they caused suffering for Cubans "whom Rubio himself forced to leave Cuba."
Contradictions in the Cuban Regime's Narrative
Despite the fiery tone of her message, the post by the second ambassador to Mexico highlighted a glaring contradiction within the Cuban regime: blaming the United States both for restricting legal migration and for provoking mass emigration.
For years, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) has accused Washington of "failing to comply with migration agreements," particularly the commitment to grant 20,000 visas annually to Cuban citizens as outlined in the 1994-1995 bilateral accords.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and other ministry officials have stated that the closure of the consulate in Havana and the relocation of visa processing to third countries, such as Guyana, hinder regular migration.
The Politics Behind Cuban Migration
However, Tablada de la Torre recently asserted the opposite: that Rubio and the Trump administration "forced Cubans to emigrate" through sanctions and pressures, indicating that migration was induced, not hindered.
In an interview with Russia Today in 2023, Tablada made a remark that resonates with bitter irony: "The 200,000 that the United States thought would overthrow the government... emigrated."
Her statement inadvertently exposed how the regime views migration: not as a tragedy, but as a triumph. According to their narrative, those who protested on July 11, 2021 (11J), were not citizens frustrated with the system's failure, but neutralized enemies who left the battlefield.
Historical Context of Cuban Emigration
Historically, the strategy is not new. From Camarioca in 1965 to the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and the 1994 raft exodus, the Cuban government has used migration as a pressure release valve and political tool.
When internal unrest threatens to overflow, they open the gates; when they need leverage in the international community, they accuse the U.S. of "encouraging irregular migration."
Washington has repeatedly warned about this tactic. State Department and Homeland Security officials have described the use of migration as a form of "hybrid coercion," aimed at destabilizing the region and pressuring negotiations.
The 1994 agreements were specifically designed to prevent Havana from repeating the demographic blackmail seen with the Mariel boatlift.
The Reality Behind the Exodus
Tablada de la Torre's rhetoric fits perfectly into this logic: external victimhood and internal denial. Blaming the exodus on "imperial cruelty" while omitting that Cubans flee due to domestic causes: rampant inflation, power outages, political repression, and a complete lack of freedoms.
The Cuban people do not emigrate because of tariffs on oil, but because the country has become unlivable, and they no longer buy into the regime's "blockade" narrative, a relic of over fifty years of crude Castroist propaganda.
It's telling that the diplomat speaks of "millions of Cubans" emigrating as victims of external aggression, when those same millions are the direct result of the regime's policies of immobility and censorship. And that she invokes the suffering of Cuban families while her government depends on remittances from those emigrants to survive.
In her publication, Tablada de la Torre promised that Cuba "will resist and prevail." But rather than a gesture of dignity, her words revealed the desperation of an apparatus that can no longer sustain its narrative.
By blaming Rubio for the migration, the official inadvertently confirmed what she sought to deny: that the mass exodus is the inevitable consequence of the Cuban model's failure, not external sanctions.
Understanding the Cuban Migration Crisis
How does the Cuban government use migration as a political tool?
The Cuban government has historically used migration as a pressure release valve and political tool by opening the gates during times of internal unrest and accusing the U.S. of encouraging irregular migration when it suits their narrative.
What are the domestic causes of Cuban emigration?
Cubans flee due to rampant inflation, power outages, political repression, and a complete lack of freedoms, making the country unlivable and prompting many to seek a better life abroad.
What was the purpose of the 1994 migration agreements between Cuba and the U.S.?
The 1994 agreements were designed to prevent Havana from using migration as a form of demographic blackmail, as seen during the Mariel boatlift, and to establish a legal migration framework between the two countries.