Republican White House hopeful Marco Rubio on Tuesday challenged President Barack Obama on a wide range of issues surrounding his administration's Latin America policies, the Florida senator's office said in a statement.

Rubio, who chairs the Senate's Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Issues, expressed particular concerns concerning the security of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, the statement noted.

As the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba takes on form, the diplomatic post in the heart of Havana might soon be upgraded to a full-scale embassy. But Rubio worried that the Interests Section might have been infiltrated by Cuban intelligence agents.

"Despite all efforts by the Obama administration to fast-track and reestablish relations with that government, the Castro dictatorship has used this opportunity to ridicule and attack American interests," the son of immigrants from the Caribbean island insisted.

"The Cuban government has made no concessions, nor attempts to open a society that has been in darkness for 55 years," he added.

Last month, Rubio had already employed harsh rhetoric to slam the president's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, the Hill recalled.

"This is the country that is the third most active espionage force in America today operating against us (and also has) military officials who have been indicted in federal court for the murder of U.S. citizens over international waters," the senator noted in April.

On Tuesday, the senator also asked administration officials who testified before his subcommittee whether the United States had received an official request from the Colombian government to release Simón Trinidad, a "narco-terrorist" who is in U.S. custody, as part of its peace negotiations with the leftist FARC rebel group, his office detailed.

"I remain supportive of the government of Colombia and the Colombian people's right to seek what is in their best interest with regards to the ongoing peace talks with the FARC," Rubio said. "However, the FARC's most recent deadly attack violated a ceasefire that had been in place since December and resulted in the death of 10 soldiers," he added.