Washington– A US delegation recently met with Cuban government officials in the island nation, marking the anniversary Renewed diplomatic efforts Even with US President Donald Trump’s threat to intervene and the Cuban leader’s statements this week His country is ready to fight If it should happen.
A senior State Department official met with the grandson of retired Cuban leader Raul Castro last week during the trip, according to a State Department official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
The official did not say who from the United States met with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, whose grandfather is believed to play an influential role in the Cuban government despite not holding an official position. A second US official said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was not part of the delegation that visited Havana.
US officials had previously said that Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a longtime anti-Cuban hawk, met the younger Castro on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis in February.
The State Department official said that during last week’s extraordinary diplomatic campaign, which Axios reported earlier, the US delegation urged Cuba to make major changes to its economy and the way it is governed because it would not allow the island nation to become a national security threat in the region.
This was the first US government flight to land in Cuba other than the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016.
Cuba’s crises have worsened This comes in the wake of the US energy blockade, and comes at a time when the Trump administration has described its government as ineffective and abusive. In exchange for easing sanctions, American demands included an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners and the liberalization of the island’s faltering economy.
Besides these similar topics, the two sides last week also discussed a US proposal to provide free and reliable internet to the island through Starlink satellite connectivity, the State Department official said.
The talks were revealed after Trump said earlier this week that his administration could focus on Cuba after the presidential election War in Iran Ends.
“We might stop in Cuba after we finish this,” he said. He described it as a “failed nation” and asserted that it had “been a terribly run country for a long time.”
In response, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel He said the United States had no good reason to carry out a military attack against the island or attempt to overthrow him but the country did Ready to respond if necessary.
“This moment is extremely difficult and calls upon us once again, as it did on April 16, 1961, to be prepared to confront serious threats, including military aggression,” Díaz-Canel said. “We do not want that, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it.”
He was speaking during a rally that attracted hundreds of people to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Declaration of the Socialist Core of the Cuban Revolution.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the talks last week.