I thought the motivation was ideological, chiefly from the cuban exiles voter base, of which Rubio is a part of? Aside from maybe tobacco, cuba doesn't have much natural resources. That's why it's so poor.
I think something similar could be true today, and it doesn't require any natural resources beyond cheap labor, Caribbean weather, and an obedient government.
The nations first national park anchored the attraction, complete with eponymous hot natural water baths. All the big celebrities of the day vacationed there ( alongside all the biggest gangsters, Al Capone included ) and professional baseball teams held spring training there.
Today, Hot Springs is still a pleasant place to visit, but it’s no longer a national draw.
At the time of the Revolution, Cuba was effectively run by American East Coast mobsters and U.S. sugar, fruit, and tobacco interests. Security services like the relatively-new CIA got much more interested after it "fell" to communism, but were also part of the pre-Revolution power structure too -- as were the well-heeled Cuban oligarchs/capitalists/landowners who were dispossessed during the Revolution and decided to flee to Miami (and eventually produce our current Secretary of State)
That is to say, ideology may do some heavy lifting, but the buy-in to actually translate that to action requires a profit motive.
Reading current events is a whole lot easier once you disabuse yourself of the idea that everything happens for a reason.