US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered Cubans a "new path" in a special video address on Wednesday hours before Washington was expected to criminally indict the island's former leader Raúl Castro.
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 Nicolás Maduro in a military raid and then imposed a painful energy blockade on the already economically struggling island nation.
