CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday in a rare face-to-face encounter that mixed intelligence, sanctions pressure and a new U.S. offer of aid. The talks brought him together with Cuba’s interior minister, the head of its intelligence services and Raulito Rodríguez Castro, a government official and the grandson of former President Raúl Castro.
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, a CIA official said. That same official said the discussions covered 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. For Havana, the meeting lands at a moment when the Trump administration is tightening pressure while also floating a narrow channel for engagement.
The Cuban government said in a statement on Thursday that the meetings took place because Washington requested them. It also said it provided information that made it possible to categorically demonstrate that Cuba does not constitute a threat to U.S. national security, and that there were no legitimate reasons to include the island on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism. The Biden administration removed Cuba from that list in January 2025, but Trump reinstated the terrorism designation on the first day of his second term.
The timing matters because the State Department said on Wednesday that the United States is prepared to give $100 million in direct assistance to the Cuban people, along with support for free and fast satellite internet. The aid would be coordinated with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations, according to the department, which described Cuba’s government as a corrupt regime in the same statement. That offer has created a political split in Havana, where the government is facing an energy crisis after the U.S. military in January arrested the president of Venezuela, a key Cuban ally and source of oil.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said on X on Thursday that the government was waiting for more details but does not reject foreign aid offered in good faith. He also criticized what he called the incongruity of this apparent generosity from a party that subjects the Cuban people to collective punishment through economic warfare. The remark captured the basic contradiction in the latest round of U.S.-Cuba contact: Washington is extending an aid package while keeping the country under severe pressure, and Havana is signaling it will not turn away help if it arrives on terms it can accept.
That leaves the next step in the hands of two governments that are talking again, but still on fundamentally different terms. The U.S. is pairing aid with demands for change, while Cuba is trying to turn the exchange into proof that it is not a security threat and should not be isolated further. Whether the Havana meeting opens a real channel or simply adds another layer to a long standoff now depends on how far either side is willing to move after Thursday.
