U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio talked to reporters about Cuba before boarding a plane at the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami-Dade County.

Rubio said that it was not likely that the U.S.-Cuba diplomatic talks were going to result in a deal.

“The likelihood of that happening, given who we are dealing with right now, is not high,” Rubio said.

Rubio was critical of the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., or GAESA, a Cuban military-run business conglomerate.

“They have a private military company named GAESA ... sitting on $18 billion of assets,” Rubio said. “Not a penny of that goes over to help the people of Cuba.”

Rubio said the Cuban government has accepted $100 million in direct humanitarian aid from the U.S. through the Catholic church’s charity.

“Cuba has always posed a national security threat to the United States,” Rubio said.

On Wednesday at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced there was a warrant for Raúl Castro’s arrest after a Miami grand jury indicted him.

For the fatal 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, the indictment charged Castro, 94, with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

“Cuba has been one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region,” Rubio said. “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores run by friends of our adversaries poses a threat to the national security of the United States.”

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Southern Command welcomed the Nimitz carrier strike group to the Caribbean.

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Rubio says probability of U.S.-Cuba deal is ‘not high’

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