CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday, according to a CIA official and a statement from the Cuban government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ratcliffe met with Cuba\u2019s interior minister, the head of its intelligence services and Raulito Rodr\u00edguez Castro, a government official who is the grandson of former President Ra\u00fal Castro, according to the CIA official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuba faces an energy crisis after the U.S. military in January arrested the president of Venezuela, a country that was a key Cuban ally and source of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CIA official said Ratcliffe was there \u201cto personally deliver President Trump\u2019s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CIA official added that Ratcliffe and the Cuban officials discussed \u201cintelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues, all against the backdrop that Cuba can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuba said it provided information that \u201cmade it possible to categorically demonstrate that Cuba does not constitute a threat to U.S. national security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cuba also said there were no \u201clegitimate reasons to include it on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Biden administration removed Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in January 2025, but President Donald Trump reinstated the designation on the first day in office of his second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trump administration has deployed a full-court press on the Cuban government, but Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the Cuban government\u2019s ability to maintain power, officials told NBC News in a report published Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cuban government said in Thursday\u2019s statement that the meetings were held because of a request by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. is prepared to give $100 million in \u201cdirect assistance to the Cuban people\u201d \u2014 which Cuba\u2019s foreign minister, Bruno Rodr\u00edguez, called a first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the State Department statement was critical of Cuba\u2019s government and called it a \u201ccorrupt regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department said in the statement that it has offered \u201csupport for free and fast satellite internet and $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe regime refuses to allow the United States to provide this assistance to the Cuban people, who are in desperate need of assistance due to the failures of Cuba\u2019s corrupt regime,\u201d it added in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department said the offer of direct humanitarian assistance would be \u201cin coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rodr\u00edguez said Thursday on X that the government was waiting for more details but does not reject foreign aid offered in good faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted what he called \u201cthe incongruity of this apparent generosity from a party that subjects the Cuban people to collective punishment through economic warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are willing to hear the details of the offer and how it would be implemented,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope it will be free of political maneuvering and attempts to exploit the hardships and suffering of a people under siege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told \u201cNBC Nightly News\u201d anchor Tom Llamas in an interview Thursday that Cuba\u2019s government has been the problem when it comes to aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Cuba. They are the holdup,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the only strings attached to the money are that it be distributed by nongovernmental organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis can\u2019t be humanitarian aid that the government steals for itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. has imposed an embargo and sanctions against Cuba that go back to the Cold War. Although U.S.-Cuba relations were restored in 2015, during the Obama administration, Trump reversed most of those measures in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January, the U.S. military carried out a military operation in Venezuela and apprehended President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, dealing a major blow to Cuba\u2019s ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Venezuela had supplied Cuba with critical oil used to power the country. Cuba\u2019s energy minister, Vicente de la O Levy, told state media Wednesday that the island has run out of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n