CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana, including Raul Castro’s grandson, discussing intelligence cooperation and economic and security issues amid high U.S.-Cuba tensions.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s high-level meeting in Havana with senior Cuban officials, including Raúl Castro’s grandson, underscored how quickly U.S.-Cuba talks are being tied to intelligence cooperation, economic conditions and security demands.
During a visit to the island on Thursday, Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the interior minister, Lázaro Álvarez Casas, and the head of Cuba’s intelligence services, Cuban and U.S. officials said. A CIA official confirmed the meetings.
The CIA official said Ratcliffe was in Havana “to personally deliver President Donald Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.”
A statement from Cuba’s government said the meeting took place “against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.” It emphasized both sides’ continued friction: the U.S.. position that Cuba cannot be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere. ” and Cuba’s insistence that the island poses no threat to U.S.. security.. Cuban officials also pushed back on the island’s continued inclusion on the U.S.. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Rodríguez Castro is a familiar figure in Cuba’s security establishment. Though he has never held a government post, he served as his grandfather’s bodyguard and later led Cuba’s version of the Secret Service.
The Thursday meeting follows prior contacts between U.S. and Cuban officials. Rodríguez Castro previously met secretly with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February.
U.S. and Cuban officials also met earlier this year in Cuba. The renewed diplomatic and intelligence-linked engagement has been notable for logistics as well: the Thursday visit marked the first U.S. government flights to land in Cuba other than at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016.
The timing also reflects mounting pressure on Cuba’s economy and grid.. Weeks earlier, Cuba confirmed it had met with U.S.. officials on the island as tensions remained high.. Those strains have been intensified by the U.S.. energy blockade and by a power grid collapse that has left energy supply cut off to Cuba’s eastern provinces.
In practical terms, the blockade has deepened daily constraints, according to the reporting: reduced work hours and food spoilage as refrigeration breaks down.
Even as direct talks continue, the U.S. has been linking assistance to political terms. Earlier this week, the State Department reiterated that the United States will provide Cuba $100 million in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet if “the Cuban regime will permit it.”
Trump’s threat posture toward the island has added another layer to the negotiations.. In late January, he warned of tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.. While Trump has also threatened to intervene. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said his country was prepared to fight if the U.S.. moved toward military action.. Sources told the AP earlier this month that military action was not imminent.
Ratcliffe’s meeting in Havana therefore lands at the intersection of two U.S.. priorities: keeping Cuba from being treated as a security foothold for U.S.. rivals, and using economic and diplomatic engagement as leverage.. For Cuba, officials have framed the talks as part of a longstanding dispute over the U.S.. designation of the island as a sponsor of terrorism and its broader pressure campaign. even as both sides acknowledge the need for some level of channeling cooperation.
U.S.-Cuba relations CIA Director John Ratcliffe Raúl Castro's grandson Marco Rubio Cuba intelligence cooperation
so we just hanging out with castro family now cool cool
wait i thought Cuba was still like our enemy?? why is the CIA director just flying down there like its a vacation, something feels really off about this whole thing and nobody is talking about it
this is literally what Obama tried to do and everybody lost their minds but now its fine i guess, anyway Raul Castro grandson is probably just spying on Ratcliffe the whole time thats how Cuba works they been doing that since the 60s my uncle used to say the whole island is one big intelligence operation and honestly after reading stuff like this i believe it, nothing good comes from these meetings they just smile and shake hands and then go back to doing whatever they want
I read that Rubio was actually in Cuba for this meeting too which is insane because wasnt he literally born there or his parents were, seems like a conflict of interest or whatever you call it. Also didnt Trump say he was gonna be tough on Cuba so why is the CIA making deals with them behind everyones back. This whole thing smells like the deep state doing whatever they want again and nobody voted for this kind of diplomacy with communist countries period.