If America is smart, it won’t take another decade to accept the obvious: the Western Hemisphere is not a ‘region.’ It’s the perimeter.
History doesn’t remember secretaries of state for photo-ops. It remembers them for whether they recognized the threat early, named it clearly, and actually moved the machine of American power in the right direction.
That’s why I believe Marco Rubio will be remembered as one of the most consequential Secretaries of State of the modern era - not because he’s polite, but because he’s precise. He treats the Western Hemisphere like what it is: America’s front yard, and the first perimeter of U.S. national security.
Why Rubio is different
Rubio isn’t playing theory. He comes from a community shaped by the lived consequences of communist rule - exile, censorship, political prisons, and a homeland held hostage by a one-party state. That background doesn’t automatically make someone right, but it does make them hard to fool. He knows what authoritarian regimes do when the cameras leave.
And unlike officials who treat Latin America as an occasional file to “manage,” Rubio treats it as a center of gravity - because adversaries do too.
The Western Hemisphere Is the Real Chessboard
The Western Hemisphere is the real chessboard
Rubio’s diagnosis is simple: the United States cannot allow hostile regimes, narco-states, and foreign powers to turn the Americas into a forward operating base against us. The region isn’t a side quest. It’s a strategic perimeter.
Under his leadership, U.S. policy in the hemisphere has leaned less on speeches and more on leverage: pressure against corrupt networks, tighter diplomatic coordination, and a posture that signals consequences - not endless negotiation with bad-faith actors.
What Rubio Says About China
What Rubio says about China
Rubio has been unusually blunt about the core contest of this era. In his confirmation hearing he said, “The 21st century will be defined by what happens between the United States and China.” He laid out China’s method in the Americas: deals lubricated by influence and corruption, debt that traps governments, pressure campaigns to isolate Taiwan, and strategic footholds that can become choke points in a crisis - from critical infrastructure to ports and even military-linked presence, especially in Cuba.
That is the point Rubio keeps making: China’s reach in our hemisphere isn’t abstract. It is physical, financial, and in places, potentially military. If Washington doesn’t offer credible alternatives, Beijing will keep buying leverage one contract at a time.
Cuba Is Not a Museum Piece. It’s an Active Threat.
Cuba is not a museum piece. It’s an active threat.
This is where Rubio’s focus becomes urgent. For Rubio, Cuba isn’t a nostalgic Cold War argument. It’s an operational hub: repression at home, destabilization abroad, and - most dangerously - an intelligence platform for America’s adversaries.
Cuba sits close enough to listen. If you care about U.S. security, you don’t treat Cuba like a tourist debate. You treat it like a counterintelligence map.
Rubio has made Cuba a centerpiece of his hemispheric strategy because the regime is not just oppressive - it is a gateway. Havana survives by turning the island into a platform: exporting instability, hosting foreign intelligence, and trading access for protection from Russia and China.
Since taking office, he has pushed a pressure-and-support approach that aims to starve the regime’s control structures while backing the Cuban people. That includes restoring the Cuba Restricted List to block transactions with entities tied to the military, intelligence, and security services, and tightening the networks that capture remittances and hard currency.
He has also elevated personal accountability, expanding visa restrictions and sanctions against senior Cuban officials linked to the crackdown on peaceful protesters. The message is straightforward: the people are not the target - the repression machine is.
Freeing Cuba Is the Point
Freeing Cuba is the point
Cut off the regime’s military-intelligence business empire from easy dollars and backdoor financing.
Back the Cuban people directly: expand humanitarian channels and support independent civil society, not state-controlled middlemen.
Treat internet freedom like a strategic tool: help Cubans bypass censorship and protect independent journalism.
Target the repression apparatus - security services, prosecutors, judges, and prison officials - with travel bans and sanctions.
Make foreign exploitation costly: expose and disrupt Chinese and Russian intelligence and military-linked activity on the island.
Cuba as a platform for Chinese operations
When China gets closer to U.S. shorelines - economically, politically, and electronically - it isn’t doing “business.” It’s buying leverage.
A Cuba that welcomes Chinese strategic presence doesn’t just export ideology; it can enable collection: signals, communications, patterns of life, and military-adjacent activity. That’s why Rubio keeps Cuba in focus. It isn’t personal. It’s professional.
What Makes Him Effective Is the Mix: Moral Clarity + Leverage
What makes him effective is the mix: moral clarity + leverage
Rubio’s approach works because it’s not only moral - it’s operational. He doesn’t just “condemn.” He connects tools: sanctions, visas, pressure on regime-linked cash networks, and coalition building across the region. He treats influence like something you either contest or you lose.
Final Word
Final word
People will argue over tone. They always do. But history doesn’t grade tone.
History grades results: whether a Secretary of State recognized the battlefield, named the adversary, and denied them space to operate - especially close to home.
If America is smart, it won’t take another decade to accept the obvious: the Western Hemisphere is not a “region.” It’s the perimeter.
