CIA chief meets Cuban officials to deliver message: Trump wants 'fundamental changes'

CIA theatre director john lackland Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials, including Raúl Castro's grandson, during a high-ranking see to the island th, Cuban and U.S. Officials said.

Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Ministry of Interior Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services and discussed intelligence co-operation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to The Associated Press.

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 "against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations."

While the U.S. Stressed that 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.

Rodríguez Castro previously secretly met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he's never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather's bodyguard and later as head of Cuba's equivalent of the Secret Service.

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 million US in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet "if the Cuban regime will permit it."

In late January, U.S. President 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 Díaz-Canel said recently that his country was prepared to fight if that should happen, a source told The Associated Press earlier this month that military action is not imminent.

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