U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday delivered a scathing condemnation of the consequences of leftism across Latin America — pointing out leftist governments led to the destruction of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
Rubio spoke to reporters in Quito during his official visit to Ecuador, where he met with President Daniel Noboa.
Asked if he is concerned about the possibility that leftist movements might begin to emerge in Latin America as a result of the Monroe Doctrine, Rubio, speaking in Spanish, pointed out that leftist movement have existed in the region for a long time and have brought nothing but misery, making special mention of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
“How did all these criminal gangs get in here [Ecuador]? In collaboration with whom? With the left, with the leftist movement,” Rubio said.
“What happened with [Gustavo] Petro in Colombia – a country that for four years was unable to fight against these criminal groups as it should have? They even have ties to those groups.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio poses for a picture with a police officer as he departs from Ernesto Cortizzos international airport in Barranquilla, Colombia on September 9, 2026. (Fernando Vergara / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
“So those movements already exist. What we’re not going to allow is to live in a region that eventually threatens the United States’ national security – a region with transnational groups that are more powerful than the government, armed with government weapons, drones, and a range of military technology that threatens the State and will eventually threaten the United States,” he added.
Rubio, now speaking in English, stressed that left-wing groups have already “destroyed” the hemisphere.
The State Secretary said:
“The left wing destroyed Venezuela, the left wing destroyed Cuba, the left wing destroyed Nicaragua. The left wing has basically destroyed every country they’ve gotten a hold of in the hemisphere. Not only have they done that here in Ecuador as well, not only have they done that in Bolivia – look what Bolivia has suffered for 25 years because of left-wing governance.”
Rubio further emphasized that not only have leftist groups destroyed the mentioned Latin American countries through bad economic places such as those in Ecuador and Colombia, said groups are “actually in alliance” with criminal narco-trafficking organizations.
“They are aligned with them. They are allied with them. They permit them to conduct these activities in a nefarious alliance between them,” Rubio said. “So I’m glad that’s being confronted. And by the way, these groups are not just threats to these countries; they ultimately become threats to the United States.”
The State Secretary emphatically stated that he works for the United States of America, and if a threat in Latin America emerges to the national security and national intents of the U.S. then, “we are going to address it.”
“And what we’re very happy about is that we can now address it in partnership with other presidents and other leaders in this region that feel the same way,” he concluded.
Rubio’s remarks appear to have infuriated Cuban communist regime’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. The Minister took upon social media to accuse Rubio and the United States of trying to “rewrite the history of the hemisphere, but it is stubborn.”
“The destructive trajectory of U.S. imperialism and its alliance with the most reactionary governments in the region is well written and recorded,” Rodríguez Parrilla wrote.
“It is expressed in tens of thousands killed, disappeared, and tortured, in the expansion of violence and crime, and the persecution of social leaders, popular movements, and fighters for justice,” he continued. “It is manifested in military interventions, the usurpation of territories, the appropriation of others’ wealth, and the ruthless exploitation of workers and peasants.”
As Sec. Rubio pointed out, several countries in Latin America have suffered disastrous consequences caused by their respective leftists governments. Most notably, the region’s three authoritarian regimes — Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua — are known for being responsible of an extensive, decades long list of disastrous socialist and communist actions that have led to catastrophic consequences for the three countries.
In other countries, such as Colombia, the country saw record-high levels of cocaine production thanks to the lax policies implemented by the administration of former President Gustavo Petro — the country’s first and so far only leftist President ever.
Sec. Rubio’s visit to Ecuador is part of a broader tour across Latin America that also includes visits to Colombia and Peru. Rubio arrived in Lima on Wednesday night, and is expected to meet with conservative President Keiko Fujimori on Thursday.
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