--- title: Republican Debate: Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba description: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio lectured billionaire Donald Trump on relations with Cuba at Thursday's Democratic Debate. canonical: https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T04:12:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:49:15.816Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba at the GOP Debate og:description: President Obama will soon visit the island nation og:url: https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda0b83d3bbbad7cf/69888a955f570ff793b1ffd5/republican_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba at the GOP Debate twitter:description: President Obama will soon visit the island nation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda0b83d3bbbad7cf/69888a955f570ff793b1ffd5/republican_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba at the GOP Debate by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 4:12 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, right, and Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, listen, during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, right, and Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, listen, during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla.Wilfredo Lee—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 4:12 AM UTC Florida Sen. Marco Rubio clashed with Donald Trump on Cuba at the Republican debate Thursday. Rubio—who is of Cuban heritage from Miami—found fault in Trump’s answer to a question about the country and proceeded to rattle off reasons closing an “embassy” there would be a faulty strategy. The billionaire said that he would close the embassy until America made better deal in Cuba, which Rubio remarked would have little effect. “On the issue of a good deal, I know what the good deal is,” Rubio said. “I’ll tell you what the good deal now, it’s already codified. Here’s the good deal: Cuba has free elections, Cuba stops putting people in jail for speaking out.” Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba were reestablished in late 2014, ending more than 50 years of isolation for the island nation some 90 miles south of Florida. In March, President Obama will become the first President to visit the country in almost 90 years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/"},"headline":"Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba at the GOP Debate","datePublished":"2016-03-11T04:12:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:49:15.816Z","description":"President Obama will soon visit the island nation","url":"https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election topic","Sen. Marco Rubio","Cuba topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda0b83d3bbbad7cf/69888a955f570ff793b1ffd5/republican_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda0b83d3bbbad7cf/69888a955f570ff793b1ffd5/republican_debate_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz","caption":"Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255131/gop-debate-rubio-trump-cuba/","name":"Watch Rubio Clash With Trump on Cuba at the GOP Debate"}}]}] ```