U.S. delegation led by CIA director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban Interior Ministry officials in Havana
John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, traveled to Cuba on Thursday, the Cuban government announced. He is the highest-ranking official to visit Cuba and the first since the administration began stepping up its pressure campaign against the Communist government.
The Cuban government said Ratcliffe met with the interior minister. According to Cuba’s state-run newspaper, the meeting focused on “the current situation” between the two countries. Cuban officials used the talks to argue that Cuba does not pose a threat to U.S. national security.
The Trump administration has not spelled out specific political or economic changes it wants in Cuba, but the overall goal appears to be ending the Communist Party’s hold on power. Trump has cut off foreign oil shipments to Cuba, whose fragile economy is in crisis, and has increased military and intelligence reconnaissance flights around the island as part of what is expected to be a broader U.S. military buildup.
Trump officials, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have previously held private talks with Cuban leaders, hoping economic pressure will force concessions. In late April, State Department officials visited Havana to press Cuban officials, including Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, on a possible deal. Secretary Rubio has also spoken directly with Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former leader Raúl Castro.
In public comments, Rubio has suggested the United States might accept broad economic reforms rather than major political change, but he told Fox News on Wednesday that he doubts change is possible “to change the trajectory of Cuba as long as these people are in charge in that regime.” He added, “I hope I’m wrong. We’ll give them a chance. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
