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WASHINGTON — CIA Director John Ratcliffe has warned Cuban officials that the Communist island “can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries” of the US while extending an offer of cooperation on economic and national security matters — if Havana makes “fundamental changes.”
“Director Ratcliffe and Cuban officials discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability, and security issues, all against the backdrop that Cuba can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” one CIA official said of the former Texas congressman’s Thursday visit to the Caribbean capital.
Examples of Cuba being a “safe haven” include an operational Chinese spy base and potential military training facility, as well as coordination with Russia on energy needs and possibly spreading the mysterious illness afflicting US diplomats known as “Havana Syndrome.”
Ratcliffe met with Raulito Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of ex-Cuban leader Raul Castro, as well as Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of the nation’s intelligence services to offer a lifeline to the left-wing regime as its oil supply from Venezuela runs out.
The CIA boss stressed during discussions that President Trump would prefer to improve relations with Cuba rather than enforce red lines.
The meeting “took place … against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations,” the Cuban government announced in a statement following the sitdown.
Ratcliffe’s suggestions came four months after the successful capture and extradition to the US of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, whose regime had provided Cuba with most of its crude oil imports.
The curbing of Cuba’s energy supply has caused blackouts and an economic downturn with downstream effects on other critical services such as medical care, President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged in March.
“They need help,” President Trump told reporters on board Air Force One Friday as he returned to the United States from China. “You talk about a declining country, they are really a nation or a country in decline. So we’re going to see.”
Last month, the president suggested that US forces “may stop by” the island after completing Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a private meeting with Rodriguez Castro on the sidelines of a gathering of Caribbean heads of government on the island of St. Kitts.
Ratcliffe’s visit marked the first direct talks between US and Cuban officials on the latter’s home turf since 2016.
The State Department extended an olive branch on Wednesday in the form of $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance as well as “fast satellite internet” that “would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations.”
“The decision rests with the Cuban regime to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical living-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical assistance,” a State Department spokesperson said.
Trump upped the pressure earlier this month with increased sanctions against countries or companies doing business with the island nation.
Early Friday, reports emerged that the US was preparing to indict 94-year-old Raul Castro, the younger brother of the late dictator Fidel Castro, who died in 2016.
The charges would be focused on the 1996 attack on the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, which had two of their planes shot down by the Cuban Air Force, killing four people, CBS News first reported.
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