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Right to care involves
- food and drink for the length of the delay
- hotel accommodation if needed
- transportation to the hotel or alternative airport if needed
- communication expenses.
There's very little definition as to the details beyond this, such as the number of meals or the hotel quality. But there is a general point of protecting the passenger's interests embedded in EC261 which is the often the bridge where things aren't clear.
There will also be rights to being rebooked (or having a refund), which are not right to care provisions but which almost certainly apply here.
It's not subject to extraordinary circumstances, it's all embracing and it is for the operating carrier, so here Iberia. Under EC261 the whole focus is on the airline providing the service, so just buying a 125 ticket, or going via BA.com doesn't provide any extra safeguards. Travelling with a European carrier does.
Iberia generally have a good reputation for doing this on the day, they are less good at after the event EC261 cases involving compensation for delays/cancellations under Article 7 but that clearly won't apply here.
In this case your friend should ask Iberia in person at Madrid airport to provide meal vouchers and the hotel booking, but if there is any difficulty in providing it, s/he can make their own booking and reclaim it. Insurance is a good idea - normally it won't cover items like this unless the airline fails to pay up but in these events it would be quite common for things like checked bags to get delayed or to lose out on inflexible hotel bookings at the destination.
Anyone going to Cuba without insurance is either very rich, reckless or both.