Marco Rubio told POLITICO that he won't drop his objections to any hypothetical nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Cuba. | Getty Rubio vows to keep up fight against U.S. ambassador in Cuba

A year to the day after the Obama administration restored diplomatic ties with Cuba, the United States still doesn't have an ambassador officially representing it on the communist-led island.

And if Marco Rubio has his way, that’s not going to change anytime soon.


The Florida Republican, who decided to run for reelection to the Senate after his presidential bid failed, told POLITICO that he won’t drop his objections to any hypothetical ambassador nominee. And he scoffed at the notion that having an ambassador in Cuba could help the U.S. argue its case to the government there.

“A U.S. ambassador is not going to influence the Cuban government, which is a dictatorial, closed regime,” Rubio said in a phone interview earlier this week from Florida. He is leading in the polls in the Senate race there after reversing his decision to return to private life following his White House run.

A single senator can severely slow down the confirmation process for an ambassador. Rubio and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) are all harsh enough critics of the U.S. opening to Cuba that President Barack Obama has not even bothered to nominate an ambassador.

All three senators are of Cuban descent. They argue that the Cuban government, led by President Raúl Castro, brother of ailing revolutionary figure Fidel, will merely use its new relationship with Washington to cement its harsh rule.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment for this story; Obama, however, has noted in the past that the U.S. has a better chance of bringing about change in Cuba through engagement than isolation.

The U.S. and Cuba officially restored ties on July 20, 2015, after more than five decades of estrangement. In the year since, the U.S. Embassy in Havana has been overseen by Jeffrey DeLaurentis, a highly regarded American diplomat with extensive experience in Cuba who holds the title chargé d’affaires.

Analysts say DeLaurentis can do just about anything that an ambassador could. But as the relationship between the two countries evolves and expands, not having an ambassador could be a symbolic and ultimately diplomatic hindrance.

Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who has joined forces with the Obama administration to champion engaging Cuba, says the nomination of an ambassador might have to wait until the next president takes office. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has signaled support for the new Cuba policy, and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also backs the restored ties.

“Once the new president nominates an ambassador, you can’t just say we’re going to sit on that and hold it,” Flake said in a reference to the recalcitrant senators, during a phone interview earlier this week. “There are going to be too many Americans traveling to Cuba and doing legal business in Cuba to deny them the opportunity to have a full-fledged diplomatic presence there.”

Over the past year, the U.S. and Cuba have held discussions about cooperating on a number of fronts, including the environment and counternarcotics. Obama, through his executive authority, has lifted a number of trade and travel restrictions on Cuba; airlines are competing for slots to offer direct flights to Havana. There’s also growing support in Congress for getting rid of the hole-filled travel ban to Cuba altogether.

However, key differences remain between the countries, especially on Cuba’s human rights record and the presence of American fugitives on its soil. And despite a growing Republican embrace of the new relationship with Cuba, it’s not yet clear when Congress will take the ultimate step of dismantling the U.S. embargo on the island.

The number of Cubans seeking to reach the United States has also risen over the past year, partly because many Cubans worry that the U.S. will repeal a law that gives them a special fast track to legal American residency.

That said, Cubans have largely expressed pleasure with the restoration of diplomatic ties.

That sentiment is not lost on Rubio, despite his insistence that the Cuban government, not the people it governs, will reap most of the benefits of the new deal with America.

Ordinary Cubans have “been living in this trap for close to 60 years, and they’re hoping some new dynamic will change things,” Rubio said. “I understand it. I do.”