CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Raul Castro’s grandson in Havana, US and Cuban officials say

AP News ^ | May 14, 2026 | ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and ERIC TUCKER

[Red Badger]

HAVANA (AP) — CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raúl Castro’s grandson during a high-level visit to the island Thursday, Cuban and U.S. officials said.

Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.

Ratcliffe was there “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,’' the CIA official said.

An official statement from Cuba’s government noted that Thursday’s meeting “took place ... against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed that Cuba cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation’s continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Rodríguez Castro previously secretly met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he’s never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather’s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba’s equivalent of the Secret Service.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Cuba; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: cia; cuba; letsmakeadeal

[Fido969]

Ratcliffe is a smart guy. Solid, too.

[PGR88]

My understanding is that Raul Castro’s grandson controls the entire Cuban tourist industry ie) all the state-run hotels, transport, foreign exchange restaurants, etc...

Anything that earns foreign exchange is in the hands of him and his cronies.