CIA Director Visits Havana as Cuba’s Energy Crisis Deepens
BBC Business reported Thursday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana and met with Cuban interior ministry officials, as the island’s Cuba energy crisis deepens under a sustained US oil blockade.
High-Level Talks in Havana
Ratcliffe’s delegation met with Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas, the head of Cuban intelligence, and Raúl Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former President Raúl Castro. A CIA official described the meeting as an effort to personally deliver a message from President Donald Trump. Topics included intelligence cooperation, regional security, and economic stability. The official stressed Cuba must stop functioning as a safe harbor for adversaries operating in the Western Hemisphere.
Cuba’s government characterized the talks as a constructive step toward improved dialogue. Havana also told US officials it does not regard itself as a threat to American national security. Both sides expressed interest in expanding cooperation between their respective law enforcement agencies.
A Crisis Built Over Decades
The US embargo on Cuba stretches back more than six decades, but pressure has intensified sharply under the current administration. Venezuela and Mexico had historically supplied oil to Cuba’s refinery network, but both countries largely stopped deliveries after Trump threatened tariffs on any nation sending fuel to the island. The resulting shortages have shuttered schools and government offices, and left hospitals struggling to operate. Widespread power blackouts have fueled public protests in Havana.
Earlier this year, Washington and Havana acknowledged they were engaged in negotiations, but those talks appeared to lose momentum as the fuel crisis dragged on.
Aid Offer Remains Contested
The same day as Ratcliffe’s visit, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said Havana was prepared to hear the specifics of a proposed $100 million US aid package. The State Department had renewed that offer Wednesday, though it attached a condition requiring distribution through the Catholic Church and independent humanitarian groups, cutting the Cuban government out of the process.
Rodríguez pushed back, saying it remained unclear whether the aid would arrive as cash or in-kind goods. He added that Cuba does not, as a general practice, turn down foreign assistance offered genuinely. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has argued the US could relieve conditions far more quickly simply by lifting the blockade.
Separately, US officials told CBS News that a grand jury is nearing a decision on a potential indictment of former President Raúl Castro, now 94, over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft that killed four people. A Justice Department source cited by Reuters described the decision as potentially imminent. Such a charge would mark a significant escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against the Cuban government.
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