Can Someone Please Explain Marco Rubio? Let Me Try.

The complex history of US imperialism in Latin America is bigger than any one person. But we can’t understand our current chapter in that history without understanding Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles from Miami, is the senior US government official in charge of foreign policy. That includes the capture of Maduro, the oil blockade against Cuba, and regime change efforts elsewhere. He appears to be project managing US intervention in Cuba, with the president’s trust and backing. He’s flying to meet with leaders of Caribbean nations as I write this. And Trump is floating Rubio’s name for a possible presidential run in 2028. And to understand how this man at the highest levels of government is reshaping global politics, we need to understand something he and I have in common: the experience of growing up Cuban American in Miami.

What does it mean to be an heir to the Cuban diaspora, a group both targeted by and largely encouraging US imperialism? Marco Rubio and I have different answers to that. His could explain where Venezuela, Latin America, and our world are heading—and why Rubio is steering us there.