Sawt Falasteen - Rubio offers Cubans 'new path' in special video address

Addressing the Cuban people directly in Spanish, Rubio accused the country's communist leadership of theft, corruption and oppression.

"President (Donald) Trump is offering a new path between the US and a new Cuba," said Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants.

"A new Cuba where you have a real opportunity to choose who governs your country and vote to replace them if they are not doing a good job."

Tensions between Washington and Havana have spiked in recent months since US forces ousted Cuba's regional ally Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a military raid and then imposed a painful energy blockade on the already economically struggling island nation.

Trump has repeatedly signaled that the Cuban government could be next to fall, and earlier this month even said Washington would be "taking over" the Caribbean island, only around 90 miles (145 km) from Florida, "almost immediately."

"In the US, we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries," Rubio said, according to an official English translation of his speech published by the State Department. "And, currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country."

In his speech, Rubio accused Gaesa, the military-backed conglomerate estimated to control some 40 percent of the Cuban economy, of enriching the elites at the expense of ordinary citizens.

"A 'state within the state' that is accountable to no one and hoards the profits from its businesses for the benefit of a small elite," Rubio charged. "And the only role played by the so-called 'government' is to demand that you continue making 'sacrifices' and repressing anyone who dares to complain."

The US Justice Department was expected on Wednesday to announce criminal charges against 94-year-old Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel as president of Cuba and oversaw a historic 2015 rapprochement with the United States under Barack Obama that Trump later reversed.

CBS News reported that the possible indictment would focus on the 1996 downing of two civilian planes manned by anti-Castro pilots, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

H.Jarrar--SF-PST