CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Raúl Castro’s grandson and senior Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday, delivering President Donald Trump’s message that the United States is willing to seriously engage on economic and security issues but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes. Ratcliffe was accompanied by Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro—a grandson of the former president and former head of Cuba’s equivalent of the Secret Service—Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas, and the chief of Cuban intelligence services. A CIA official, confirming the meetings, said Ratcliffe was there “to personally deliver” the message.
The U.S. delegation warned that Cuba cannot remain “a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere.” In response, Cuban officials insisted that the island poses no threat to U.S. security and protested Cuba’s continued placement on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. An official Cuban government statement noted the meeting took place “against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”
Thursday’s session unfolded as Cuba’s energy grid has collapsed and a U.S. blockade of fuel has intensified economic misery, spurring food spoilage and reduced work hours. The State Department reiterated earlier this week that the U.S. will provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet “if the Cuban regime will permit it.”
The directors’ meeting is part of a quiet but persistent diplomatic track. 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 have also convened earlier this year in Cuba, and the ongoing exchanges constitute the first U.S. government flights to land in Cuba other than at the Guantánamo Bay naval base since 2016.
In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba. Although he also threatened to intervene militarily, sources told the AP that military action is not imminent. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said his country is prepared to fight if intervention occurs.