Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change in their country to act, saying “now is the time” moments after Donald Trump told a Friday rally for candidates in south Florida that US warships could intervene in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war.

The US secretary of state, in his social media post addressed “to those who seek to create positive change”, urged Cubans to capitalize on Trump’s plans. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete [sic] partnership with the CIA,” Rubio said.

The top US diplomat, whose parents left Cuba for the United States before the socialist revolution there, seemed to mistakenly use the word “discrete”, meaning separate, rather than “discreet”, meaning private or secret.

Trump first floated this idea earlier this year, but has not mentioned it in recent months.…