GOP candidate Vic Mellor flies to Cuba amid scrutiny

Rhode Island GOP congressional candidate Vic Mellor has returned to Havana to meet Raúl “Raulito” Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, while the State Department says he is not authorized to act for the U.S. Government. Mellor frames his trip as business-led efforts ti

Morning lines at Boston Logan felt ordinary—until Vic Mellor’s destination did not. On June 6, the Rhode Island GOP congressional candidate boarded another trip to Havana as the United States tries to tighten economic pressure on Cuba’s government, even as the island’s humanitarian crisis deepens.

Mellor’s latest move lands in the middle of a growing controversy: he has been positioning himself not just as a candidate, but as a self-appointed envoy—carrying meetings to the Castro family’s inner orbit.

The U.S. State Department has been clear about the status of those efforts. A State Department spokesperson confirmed Mellor “is not authorized to speak on behalf of the United States government and is not involved in anything the administration is doing.”

Mellor’s trip also follows a surprise visit to Havana in late May. when he said he delivered humanitarian supplies and then sat through two lengthy dinners with Raúl “Raulito” Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. the grandson of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro. Rodríguez Castro is the grandson of the newly indicted Raúl Castro and is described as a top political advisor.

Mellor, a Florida businessman aiming to unseat Rhode Island Democratic incumbent Rep. Seth Magaziner. said his travel is motivated by businessmen and investors who recently created the National Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce in Miami. He said the organization’s goal is political change and private reconstruction in Cuba.

He also insisted he hasn’t been operating through official diplomatic channels. Mellor said he has not spoken to the State Department, the White House, or other diplomatic officials for his trip.

In a statement of intent that also reads like a warning to critics, Mellor said: “I’m not back-channeling and I’m not going to circumvent Marco Rubio.” He added, “[Rubio’s] been doing an amazing job. A conversation isn’t betrayal. We’re having an open dialogue. I don’t see how I could hurt anybody.”

His argument rests heavily on personal assurances—and on the claim that his meetings are part of an open business dialogue rather than a government substitute. But the timing and the identities involved have made the visit hard to ignore. especially among those who want Cuba’s future to move beyond the Castro family’s long hold on power.

Mellor said Rodríguez Castro struck him as pragmatic and forward-looking during the late May dinners. Mellor said he had two meetings in late May that spanned several hours. He described Rodríguez Castro—41 years old and known as “El Cangrejo,” the crab—as laying out “his vision for the future.”

He also connected that vision to U.S. actions. Various members of the Castro clan were sanctioned in the latest round of designations announced by the Treasury Department on June 4. Mellor said Rodríguez Castro reacted to the sanctions with confidence. “He’s confident. He wants the Cuban people to prosper,” Mellor said. “He kept saying it was an update, Cuba needs to update its policies.”.

Mellor said Rodríguez Castro told him he met twice with Rubio and once with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in recent months. Mellor said one of Rodríguez Castro’s meetings with Rubio was in St. Kitts in early March.

That is the core of the tension: Mellor is a political candidate arguing that his outreach is about prosperity and dialogue, while the State Department is drawing a line around what official U.S. engagement looks like.

Complicating his candidacy at home, Mellor has spent much of his campaign defending his record, including his ties to Gen. Mike Flynn—who he previously served as chief of staff under President Donald Trump—and his involvement in Sarasota Republican party and school board politics. He has also defended his participation in the January 6, 2021 pro-Trump march that turned into a riot.

During the Cuba trip, he did not claim he was negotiating. He said he acknowledges he has no experience in diplomacy and wasn’t negotiating. He also said he believes both the U.S. and Cuba want prosperity.

He described the trip through the lens of history unfolding in real time. Mellor said he feels like he’s watching history unfold on the island.

The sequence of facts—Mellor’s repeated trips to Havana. his meetings with a high-ranking Castro family advisor. and the State Department’s insistence that he is not acting for the U.S.—creates a hard boundary for voters and watchdogs to measure. In practice. it places a campaign-year candidate in a role he says is business-driven. while Washington treats that boundary as non-negotiable.

For now, Mellor remains in motion. As he steps back into the airport lines again for a June 6 return to Havana. the question hanging over his trip is not whether he believes in prosperity—it’s whether his approach blurs the line between private outreach and something closer to a political back-channel. at the very moment U.S. policy is trying to tighten pressure on Cuba’s government.

Vic Mellor Cuba Raulito Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro State Department Rhode Island Seth Magaziner National Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce Marco Rubio John Ratcliffe Marine veteran Mike Flynn January 6 humanitarian supplies