Cuban government says CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with officials in Havana

In this Wednesday, July 24, 2019, file photo, Rep. John Ratcliffe questions former special counsel Robert Mueller as he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on his report on Russian election interference. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

HAVANA — CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raul Castro’s grandson during a high-level visit to the island Thursday, Cuban and U.S. officials said.

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

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. According to 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,” the CIA official said.

An official statement from Cuba’s government noted the meeting “took place Thursday, May 14, against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed the Cuba cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation’s continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Thursday’s meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country and as Cuba’s power grid has collapsed and energy to its eastern provinces has been cut. The U.S. blockade of fuel to the island has heightened its economic woes, with reduced work hours and food spoilage as refrigerators stop working.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the U.S. will provide Cuba with $100 in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet “if the Cuban regime will permit it.”

In late January, U.S. Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. Though Trump also has threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said recently that his country was prepared to fight if that should happen, source told the AP earlier this month that military action is not imminent.

Andrea Rodriguez And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press

Tucker reported from Washington, D.C.