{"id":334932,"date":"2026-05-15T04:20:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=334932"},"modified":"2026-05-15T04:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:50:34","slug":"cuban-officials-meet-with-cia-director-after-country-says-fuel-has-run-out-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/15\/cuban-officials-meet-with-cia-director-after-country-says-fuel-has-run-out-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban officials meet with CIA director after country says fuel has run out – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raul Castro\u2019s grandson during a high-level visit to the island Thursday, Cuban and U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe met with Raulito Rodriguez Castro, Ministry of Interior Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the top of Cuban intelligence services and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe was there \u201cto personally deliver President Donald Trump\u2019s message that america is ready to noticeably engage on economic and security issues, but provided that Cuba makes fundamental changes. In keeping with official reports, the meeting served as a platform for Cuba to present evidence asserting that the nation poses no threat to U.S. national security,\u201d the CIA official said.<\/p>\n

An official statement from Cuba\u2019s government noted that Thursday\u2019s meeting \u201ctook place \u2026 against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While the U.S. stressed the Cuba cannot proceed to be a \u201crefuge for adversaries within the Western Hemisphere,\u201d the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security.<\/p>\n

Cuban officials also took issue with the nation\u2019s continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.<\/p>\n

Rodr\u00edguez Castro previously\u00a0secretly met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u00a0on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he\u2019s never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather\u2019s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba\u2019s equivalent of the Secret Service.<\/p>\n

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Thursday\u2019s meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the 2 sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country.<\/p>\n

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The island\u2019s national energy grid suffered a serious failure early Thursday that severed power to the island\u2019s eastern provinces, authorities said, as residents within the capital Havana faced ongoing blackouts.<\/p>\n

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The state-run Electric Union said the collapse had stripped power from all eastern provinces from Guant\u00e1namo to Ciego de \u00c1vila, and that crews were working to revive power, but it surely didn’t give an estimate for the way long it could take.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Cuban President\u00a0Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel\u00a0had described the energy situation as \u201ctense\u201d after supplies of oil\u00a0delivered by a Russian vessel in late March\u00a0ran out.\u00a0Cuba\u00a0produces barely 40% of the fuel it must power its economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have absolutely no fuel oil, absolutely no diesel,\u201d Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba\u2019s minister of energy and mines,\u00a0said\u00a0on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

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