Rubio Says Cuba Accepted $100 Million US Aid Offer; Havana Says Proposal Under Review

Last Updated:May 21, 2026, 10:50 PM IST

Marco Rubio says Cuba accepted $100 million US aid, Havana says it is only reviewing, day after US indicts former president Raul Castro over a 1996 shootdown, straining ties.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press before boarding his plane at Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Florida, on Thursday. (Image: AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday announced that Cuba has accepted Washington’s offer of $100 million aid. However, Havana has only confirmed that it is reviewing the terms.

“They say they’ve accepted it. We’ll see if that means it” will work out, Rubio told reporters in his Florida as he left for a NATO meeting in Sweden.

“We’re not going to do humanitarian aid that falls into the hands of their military company that they have. And then they take that stuff and they sell it at the dollar stores and put the money in their pocket,” he said.

According to AFP, Cuba has publicly only said that it was reviewing the offer made by Rubio and tensions have risen after the United States on Wednesday indicted the country’s influential former president Raúl Castro on murder charges.

Castro was indicted in the United States over his alleged role in the 1996 shooting down of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Miami-based organisation Brothers to the Rescue, according to US media reports.

“The president always has the option to do whatever it takes to support and protect the national interest and national security of the United States,” Rubio said. “That said, our preference is always a diplomatic solution.”

The indictment, reportedly returned by a Florida grand jury and later unsealed, accuses Castro of conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.

The case relates to a February 1996 incident in which four Americans — Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales — were killed when Cuban military aircraft allegedly shot down two planes over international waters.

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment during an event in Miami commemorating victims of the incident.

The development risks adding fresh strain to already tense US-Cuba relations, with Havana rejecting the allegations while Washington frames the case as a long-delayed pursuit of accountability.

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