The lawmaker also warns about the electoral impact of wars promoted from the White House
14ymedio/Europa Press, Madrid, May 29, 2026 — Democratic Senator for the state of Arizona, Rubén Gallego, warned this Friday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump “will try to change the Government of Cuba, one way or another,” a prospect he said he opposes.
“I believe there will be an attempt to change the Government of Cuba, whether through the military or by some other means. Cubans living outside the island have a great deal of influence in circles close to the president,” he asserted during a meeting with journalists at the headquarters of the Real Instituto Elcano, taking advantage of his visit to Madrid.
He thus referred to U.S. foreign policy and the actions of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he accused of “having an obsession with this issue.” Rubio himself stated last week that Havana is “a threat to U.S. national security” and accused the island of being “one of the sponsors of terrorism throughout the region.”
“I believe that 99% of elected Democrats will be against this war and are seeking to pass a law to stop an attempt to invade Cuba”
Gallego, addressing these remarks — which Cuba claims amount to the United States “instigating military aggression” — argued in turn that the Caribbean nation “is not a threat to the United States.” “It is a very poor island with 9 million people,” he said, while emphasizing that “the United States should not start any war.”
“I believe that 99% of elected Democrats will be against this war and are seeking to pass a law to stop an attempt to invade Cuba. I hope we succeed and can stop this, but I believe this president and the Cubans who are in the United States will try to bring down the Government,” he maintained.
The senator clarified that he himself introduced the bill together with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, former vice-presidential candidate, with the goal of requiring Congress to authorize Trump to carry out military operations similar to those that took place on Iranian and Venezuelan soil. “Hopefully we will have the opportunity to pass this law,” he added.
Regarding the operation carried out in January on Venezuelan soil — which resulted in the capture and transfer to the United States of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores — Gallego stressed that it represented a “tactical success” but a “failure” in political terms because it had “used the military to bring down a foreign government.”
“Maduro was deeply corrupt, but that does not give us a license to bring down the Government”
“Maduro was deeply corrupt, but that does not give us a license to bring down the Government because we open the door for what we say — that someone is a criminal or delinquent — to be used by other countries, for example China, against others such as Taiwan,” he explained.
“Strategically and militarily it was a success, but we have replaced one dictator with another, so geopolitically speaking I think it has been a failure,” he added.
When asked about the possible results of the midterm elections scheduled for November, the Democratic politician expressed optimism about a possible victory for his party in the elections, amid Trump’s declining popularity and rising tensions following the offensive against Iran.
“I believe the Democrats are going to take the House of Representatives and probably also the Senate. This is because the war is a problem for voters, not only because the majority of Americans, around 60%, reject this war but also because it distracts the Government from the things that truly matter to citizens,” he declared, though he declined for now to comment on a possible presidential run in 2028. “First we will focus on 2026,” he insisted.
“I believe the Democrats are going to take the House of Representatives and probably also the Senate. This is because the war is a problem for voters”
Among these issues, he listed the high cost of living: “Everything costs a lot in the United States. The price of housing, rent, vehicles, energy…” he said, before indicating that the president “has done nothing to solve this.”
Regarding the importance of the Latino vote, he stressed that “historically, this is a group of voters that keeps changing. There used to be a solid Democratic base, but that has changed over time, and many of them voted for Trump in 2024,” he complained.
“In Arizona we won because we gained the support of the Latino community and the reason we achieved that support was because we talked about the issues that concerned them, which are the economy and immigration,” he explained, although he admitted that, on many occasions, “Democrats have not known how to address the frustration” of the population.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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