United States secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he is confident Cuba will be set on an irreversible course towards a different future before President Donald Trump leaves office. He was answering a question about whether Cuba might follow Venezuela, where US forces captured Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026. Rubio cautioned that a system rooted for 70 years could not be pulled out overnight and said a transition had to happen first. The son of Cuban immigrants said he worked for the United States rather than for Cuba, and that a secure and stable island aligned with Washington was in the American national interest. The European Commission has not acted on it and in July pledged a further €10 million in humanitarian aid to the island.