Reuters: CIA Director Ratcliffe visits Cuba, delivers message from President Trump

CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Cuba and delivered a message from US President Donald Trump to the Cuban authorities. This is only the second known visit by a CIA director to Cuba since the 1959 revolution.

This is reported by Reuters, citing sources.

According to an anonymous CIA official, Ratcliffe arrived in Havana on May 14. Washington said it was ready to cooperate with Havana only if there were "fundamental changes" on the part of the Cuban political regime.

The source did not say what changes Washington is demanding. At the same time, the United States has been calling for years on Cuba to open its economy to other countries, hold "free and fair" elections, and resolve the issue of compensation for property confiscated after Fidel Castroʼs revolution.

Cuban authorities confirmed Ratcliffeʼs visit and said the parties discussed cooperation between intelligence and law enforcement agencies "in the interests of the security of both countries".

According to Reuters, the meeting with the American side was attended by Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alvarez Casas and the countryʼs intelligence chiefs.

The parties also raised the issue of Cubaʼs economic stability and security in the region. The US representative said that Havana had a "rare opportunity" to stabilize the economy, but that this chance "will not last forever".

What is happening between Cuba and the USA?

In late January, the US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over Cuba and threatened tariffs on countries that supply it with oil. Trump accused Cuba of cooperating with states hostile to the US, including Russia, China and Iran, and of supporting the Hamas and Hezbollah groups.

According to him, Cuba allows Russian and Chinese intelligence and military facilities to be located there, which monitor the US. Trump also said that the Cuban government violates human rights, persecutes the opposition, restricts freedom of speech and puts pressure on civil society.

The Cuban government responded by declaring that the United States posed a threat to the country and declared an international emergency. The blockade caused a complete collapse of Cubaʼs energy system, with a blackout on the island as the country ran out of fuel for its power plants.

The authorities were forced to cancel classes, restrict the work of hospitals and transport. The crisis also sparked public protests, and airlines suspended flights to the island due to a shortage of jet fuel.

On March 6, Trump said that the Cuban government was “soon to fall” and that he wanted to make a deal with it. Trump also said that he intended to make US Secretary of State Marco Rubio his deputy in Cuba.

After Trumpʼs tariff order, neither Mexico nor Venezuela sent oil to Cuba, although they were previously the islandʼs main energy suppliers. As early as March 19, the FT reported that Russia had sent two tankers with oil and gas to Cuba, despite US restrictions. These were the first fuel deliveries to the island in three months. Trump himself said that he saw no problem in supplying Russian oil to Cuba.

Already on April 18, Axios, citing sources, wrote that a US State Department delegation visited Cuba on April 10, the first time since President Barack Obamaʼs visit to the island in 2016. The main issue of the negotiations then was the implementation of large-scale political and economic reforms, on which the American side insists.

On May 14, it became known that the island of Cuba had run out of diesel and fuel oil, which sparked protests in the capital, Havana.

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