Cuba challenges Rubio's narrative on Western Hemisphere, denounces US imperialism

HAVANA -- Cuba on Thursday challenged US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's narrative of events in the Western Hemisphere, denouncing the long-standing record of US imperialism in the region.

"The US Secretary of State and his government may try to rewrite the history of the hemisphere, but history is stubborn," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on X.

Rodriguez said the "destructive trajectory of US imperialism and its alliance with the region's most reactionary governments is well written and recorded."

That trajectory is reflected in the "tens of thousands of people murdered, disappeared, and tortured; in the expansion of violence and crime; and in the persecution of social leaders, grassroots movements, and those who fight for justice," he said.

It is also manifested in "military interventions, the usurpation of territories, the appropriation of others' wealth, and the ruthless exploitation of workers and peasants," Rodriguez added.

Rubio, who is currently touring South America, said that the region's left wing "has basically destroyed every country they've gotten a hold of in the hemisphere."

"These left-wing groups are actually in alliance with these criminal narco-trafficking organizations. They are aligned with them," Rubio said.

US President Donald Trump posted a map on Truth Social on Monday showing the US flag covering Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, Greenland and Iceland.

Rodriguez criticized Trump's penchant for renaming geographical locations to his liking, saying such moves flout international law.

Earlier this week, Rodriguez joked that, at this rate, the US government "is going to leave its citizens geographically disoriented. Soon they won't know which gulf, lake, building, country, continent or planet they're on."