In a remarkable development, CIA Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Cuba on Thursday to meet with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro the grandson of former Cuban President Raúl Castro. Also present at the meeting was Cuban Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuba’s intelligence services.
In late April of this year, a few State Department officials visited Havana and held talks with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro about a potential diplomatic deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also previously spoken directly to Mr. Rodríguez Castro who appears to be acting as somewhat of a bridge between the Cuban government and various Trump administration officials.
VIA CUBAN GOVT Press Release – “Based on the request presented by the U.S. government that a delegation headed by the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, be received in Havana, the Directorate of the Revolution approved the realization of this visit and the meeting with its counterpart from the Ministry of the Interior.
The meeting took place on Thursday, May 14, in a context characterized by the complexity of bilateral relations, in order to contribute to the political dialogue between the two nations, as part of the efforts to face the current scenario.
The evidence provided by the Cuban side and the exchanges held with the United States delegation made it possible to demonstrate categorically that Cuba does not constitute a threat to the national security of the United States, nor are there any legitimate reasons for including it in the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.
During the meeting, it was possible to verify the consistency and congruence in the historical position of our country with the actions of the Cuban government and its competent authorities, in the confrontation and unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
“Once again it was evident that the island does not harbor, support, finance or allow terrorist or extremist organizations; nor are there any military or foreign intelligence bases on its territory, and it has never supported any hostile activity against the United States nor will it allow Cuba to act against another nation.
The interest of both sides in developing bilateral cooperation between law enforcement and enforcement agencies was also evident, based on the security of both nations, regional and international.” (link)
According to CBS News – “CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana, Cuba, on Thursday for a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, an agency official told CBS News, using the visit to deliver a message that the U.S. was prepared to expand economic and security engagement with Cuba if Havana “makes fundamental changes.”
The meeting came as Cuba is contending with a massive power failure to its national energy grid amid U.S. sanctions that have caused an oil and gas shortage crisis to the island nation.
Ratcliffe told Cuban leaders the administration was offering “a genuine opportunity for collaboration” and a chance to stabilize Cuba’s struggling economy, while cautioning that the opportunity would not remain open indefinitely and the administration would enforce “red lines” if necessary, the official said.
The meeting in Havana follows a series of public comments from President Trump that talks with Cuba were imminent. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump said “Cuba is asking for help,” and indicated talks would begin “at the right time.”
Cuban officials publicly confirmed Thursday’s meeting, characterizing it as part of efforts to maintain political dialogue despite what Havana called “complex bilateral relations.” {source}
“The Cuban people should know there’s $100 million of food and medicine available for them right now….”
But they don’t, and the only reason that most of the Cuban people don’t even know about that $100 million in food and medicine is because of the Cuban regime
Yep and of course our so-called free press would never want to tell them because:
1) The somalians, democrats and RINOS stoled it all.
2) They want everyone to suffer except their arrogant asses who sit in their ivory penthouses and lie to the American people every day….day in and day out.
I want to see ALL the FAKE NEWS scumbags begging for mercy when the SHTF.
No or very little internet on the island. Cubans get info by carrier pigeons. No joke.
Drop pamphlets. Its about time we stop depending on the internet so much and actually do physical stuff like drop pamphlets, blow up ships by using stuff that make big holes, etc. You know, we didn’t get here by the internet. It was hard work, using our brains and backs. God helps those who help themselves and it doesn’t include a keyboard.
Flyer drop ! 🙂
Cuba could be such a prosperous place.
It was once, when they were free….
I suspect when President Trump selected Marco Rubio for the position of Secretary of State, in part he did so because of what is transpiring now. And I also suspect Secretary Rubio accepted in part because of the hope that what once was would be again.
With God, all things are possible.
Nothing is written in stone…unless He writes it.
Praying that one day, the joyous cheers and tears from freed Cubans will be heard here from coast to coast.
Didn’t notice at first…TRUMP!
Ahh heck, Betsy. Even God had to give Moses a new slab of stone so the people could see the truth so maybe there’s hope after all.
Pelagius wrote, “There is no worst death than the end of hope.”
We must never give it up, THOR. See the faces of people who have. The light of life is gone from them. If you’ve ever seen anyone in that state, the above truth should make us cling harder to it.
Amen to that, Betsy! Hardships either make you stronger……or they don’t.
Yes. There is so much potential for the rest of the Americas. Voters in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador and others have elected conservative governments. Rubio should do well.
It’s a strange but wonderful feeling observing these countries begin to throw off their chains. All down to President Trump. Of this there is no question.
While in this country the Marxist/Communist forces being repudiated in those nations are working overtime to turn America into the hellholes we are watching slowly being drained elsewhere…
Ironic or what…
B, you say a lot of good things, but this is one of your most poignant. Thx!!!
It has taken A LOT of evil to despoil the sacred American compact – the ONLY Constitution that recognizes individual sovereignty and the right to worship Our Creator. We are now seeing this man-made evil for what it is and are finally fighting back!
We had to see it to fight it, MHB. And brother!!! Have we ever…
Hold, hold!
From William Wallace……
the Celts are starting to have their say…….a bit of yeast leavens the loaf. Wake up Wales, Scotland and Ireland and be true to your blood heritage!
And we wait…and wait.
Massive Freedom Rally on Saturday in London organized by who else?
The modern day Braveheart Tommy Robinson.
Persecuted, slandered, imprisoned, threatened…the most courageous man in the UK.
This has been building for some time. El Salvador went through hell before electing President Bukule in 2019. Argentina elected President Milei in 2023 after years / decades of failed economic experiments and grift. The desire for both economic liberty and personal freedom is strong throughout the Americas.
Good morning Betsy from behind the Euro Iron Curtain
I hail you from this side of the pond, dear Patrick.
After what I’ve been writing , I don’t believe the authorities would let me back in for visiting hours.
God bless you always, my friend.
I worked in Miami with lot’s of young men my age who fled Cuba with their parents in 1959. One was sent alone to Nebraska on a Peter Pan flight. All were Cubans of European White Hispanic, French and German descent.
I had a woman manager who was sent here at a young age by her family well before they could join her. And in the same jewelry store, I worked with another woman whose experience was the same. I heard the stories.
And I can tell you no American born person, myself included at one time, was as passionate about freedom than these two fiery women. They remembered what “living” in Cuba was like; and those memories made the gift of freedom here all the more precious.
What is it like living in other Caribbean islands, including the US Virgin Islands – fear, crime, poverty, cartels, environmental degradation and drugs. Why do you think all the cruise lines had to buy “private islands” or create gated resort complexes in these other island “freedom” paradises?
Been to Montego Bay lately? Or Antigua, or any other island……. Havana is an oasis of sanity in comparison.
Betsy, you are such a gifted writer, on a deep level. I (and many) appreciate your posts. Love this reference: “Nothing is written in stone…unless He writes it.” Amen.
What did their other Caribbean neighbors do with their “freedom”: crime, drugs, cartels and badly abused infrastructure. Be careful what you ask for, you might get it for Cuba too..
Vacation paradise
It will be. Change is coming.
Even at its worst, Cuba is still 1000% better than any other Carribean island nation overrun with crime, cartels, exploitive tourism, and unmitigated infrastructure assault.
Helps to actually travel and see what the rest the place looks like. Cuba is actually an oasis of intact culture and sanity, even in its current state of their neighbors. Just saying.
So it sounds like the offer has, what I call, a ‘half life’…lets hope they choose wisely…to benefit all….
Make Cuban sandwiches, great again! On Cuban bread…(which is just as good as Micha bread)….!
Occasionally, Publix makes the Cuban sanwhich…
When l go back home to Fl. ….cuban bread is all i bring back with me to ohio…. to make real cuban sandwiches….
“Five Brothers” coffee sandwich shop in Key West makes a pretty good one if you can’t get to Cuba. But the cafe con leche is the real deal. The dude stands there pouring cream and coffee simultaneously into a pitcher and that’s what you get.
Disclaimer: This was 9-10 years ago so things may not be quite the same now. Wink, wink,
I was just about to say – Cuban coffee yummmmm!
But wait, I thought Robert Redford and Sean Penn told us Cuba was a worker’s paradise with great health care! We in the west should be so lucky! Even Obama visited and took in a ball game. Nothing to see here!
Those who advocate for socialism do not want to actually live under it. They desire to keep their personal affluent and privileged lifestyle (typically in upper-scale neighborhoods with fancy boutiques and expensive restaurants), while expecting everyone else to live under the heel of Socialism.
Comrade! You remember no such thing! Put that memory down The Memory Hole!
If you remember MAObama acting like a dictator, put that down The Memory Hole!
If you remember MAObama bowing deeply to an Islamic dictator, put that down The Memory Hole!
You must forget many things, in order to be a True Comrade of Communism!
Remind everyone how many properties BO has and the estimated value of each.
Don’t forget Michael Moore and his stupid propaganda documentary Sicko and Cuba’s supposedly great health system.
Karen Bass loves Cuba!
The Iranian regime would be proud of the Cuban press release. It was seemingly worded by like minds
The CIA Director is now negotiating foreign policy. Hummmmm.
Peculiar and telling.
We will know the reason why, without being told, in how far Cuba bends the knee to the U.S. IC.
I’m intrigued to see the outcome of this meeting.
Intriguing thought MA, if he is indeed negotiating foreign policy. Time will tell…
*how’s Pa?
CIA Director is there to show USA has proof that the Cuban regime is indeed sponsoring terrorists and that their public denials won’t influence the Trump administration.
Ratcliff will give Cuban authorities an option. Stop sponsoring anti-American regimes and get economic help, or get Venezuela’d.
yep
Well everyone else got the (Niki sweat suit) leisure cruse to China. He drew the short straw! While the others walked the red carpet and got wined and dined, John’s plane got parked behind the barb wire and all his buds got fizzed out in the press release.
Sorry! I couldn’t resist!
Seriously, I am not too worried about Ratcliffe. I see him more of a messenger than a policy wonk (on this trip). This isn’t Dulles, Kerry or H.R. Clinton.
Bay of Porkies anyone?
Walking AND Chewing Gum at the same time.
While POTUS works Asia, VPOTUS runs the country in his stead AND manhandles the Fraud eradication efforts, and DCIA begins unparalleled shaping efforts in the Caribbean while Ukraine and Iran marinate to a palatable outcome.
We are witnessing Trump Warp Speed. Pity the Dems (actually don’t) as issue overload puts their brains into looping resets of uselessness and irrelevance. And the Media can’t even find a cycle to chase to create a proper cycle.
It’s seems clear to me that the President has given several big assignments out to the others. This is how it should be. He has assembled a very top-notch team.
AMEN! 🙂
“Walking AND Chewing Gum at the same time” plus balancing, juggling, hula hoop, and playing the trombone, all while sipping soup.
The DNC is having difficulty figuring out what a woman is while team 47 is handling a restructuring of global trade agreements and negotiating an end to multiple repressive regimes.
U.S. officials are taking steps to indict Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba and brother of Fidel Castro, in connection with the downing of planes 30 years ago, CBS News reports.
https://nitter.poast.org/Osint613/status/2055064573317730434#m
To the current leaders of Cuba, take your money, you have enough and throw in the towel.
To the current leaders of Cuba, let the people have a life. You never gave them one. It’s over.
Enough talk. Send in Seal Team 666 and let the party begin.
That street picture reminds me of the old Mission: Impossible TV series when episodes involved some banana republic. Laundry hanging on the line on the balcony in the background, wires going all over the place, and not much happening on the street.
That photo shows the only three cars in all of Cuba that still have enough fuel to run.
The American people have always been a generous people. There is no comparable example in history of a conquering nation (the U.S.) not only leaving the conquered (the Axis powers) independent, but subsequently furnishing massive economic and military aid that enabled its former adversaries to compete successfully against the conquering nations’ own industries. As I said, we are generous.
But we are also a country deeply in debt, running deficits that are now approaching two trillion dollars a year. No country, not even one as economically dominant as the U.S., can sustain such outlays.
So, it’s in that context that I say that the truth of the old maxim that “charity begins at home” begins to be appreciated. Not because we do not want to be generous – helping those in need is a good impulse and should not be stifled. But if you do it at the cost of impoverishing your own people, then far from being driven by humanitarian impulses, the driver becomes foolish hubris and even vanity. And the leaders of such a country show a profound lack of gratitude for the hard working citizens of said country whose efforts built an economy that reached a position where the country could afford to be generous.
Finally, I’m reminded of the passage from the scriptures: “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (I Timothy 5:8) The principle applies here. It strains credulity to advance the notion that you are deeply concerned for the plight of your neighbor when you’ve failed to provide for the welfare of those closest to you. Because if you do not, who will? Your faux concern then is shown to be vanity. The U.S. is in that position now. Billions for Ukraine (while congressional poseurs drape themselves in the Ukraine flag) while thousands of Americans are homeless in the streets. Millions for Cuba while millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet after years of government-induced reckless runaway inflation. Where is the compassion for our own?
Compassion begins at home. Provide for the citizens who’ve entrusted their livelihoods to this country, stop treating them as a bottomless piggy bank to be fleeced to make yourself feel good about yourself or to win international brownie points, then we can see about helping others whose own governments have failed them. Otherwise, we are no better than those governments and have no reason to pat ourselves on the back.
J
Ten minutes…tops..to take Cuba. GITMO is right down the street. Move 10,000 out of Germany to GITMO.
First fill Gitmo to the brim with illegals. Then negotiate with Cuba, if necessary, for more land to house our soldiers from Germany.
Nick Shirley (and 2 other men) recently went to Cuba, were followed the entire time, and escaped a day later by a hair. 😮
This video paints the reality. People in this country, sleepwalking in their fantasies about the idyllic life they’d have under communism, should be forced to live in Cuba or North Korea for a year. They’d be paying someone to smuggle them back to the U.S.
Thanks to Nick, an intrepid young journalist during the job the corporate media only pretends to do.
J
For that young man to go to Cuba, is amazing. He was definitely afraid for his life and that of his security.
Show of hands among the fake American media….you have guts like that?
The fake American media are brothers in arms so they would be safe in Cuba.
Rubio told hannity on air force one the cuban generals r holding billions via a company they own while their citizens go w/o fuel, eat out of garbage cans, no medical care… our country should not be giving any $$$ to this dictatorship until there is complete regime change. The iran war has cost taxpayers 93 billion dollars…. enough foreign meddling.
If Iran drops a nuclear bomb on Israel as it has promised, do you think the nuclear fallout will remain suspended over Israel?
Or will it blow westwards towards USA.
Rubio and/or our government is not giving aid to the Cuban government. Where did you get that idea?
We are not “meddling” in Iran. We are stopping the crazy mullahs and IRGC from getting nuclear weapons.
This Admin already bombed iran’s nuclear sites in the early part of trump’s 2nd term, u & the american people have a short memory. The Admin claimed back then that they had obliterated iran’s ability to make nuclear bombs for years. How naive to buy into the war machine propaganda..
So you like the mullahs?
trump has clearly communicated that he’s not looking for regime change nor will he force it anymore… my daughter-in-law is iranian, you know very little abt iran, only what this admin is feeding you
Perhaps you know very little about Trump and how he operates. Would you publicize your intentions to your enemy in the midst of war?
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The Art of War.
An embargo on 50’s Chevy parts should do it.
haha, no doubt!
Day of pigs 66 approximately years later?
(yeah I know, Bay vice day but the pigs had their say and all pigs are not created equal until they eat the golden goose)
It is truly uplifting to watch the entirety of US foreign and economic policies being either modified, or abandoned altogether and replaced with new policies, to address the current realities of 2026. And while they are in Cuba, 47 and the Tech Bros are in China to open that market. Everything, everywhere, all at once. Amazing.
When you stop & think about it, ALL of it in totality, you’re absolutely correct, this has been Amazing.
Adults are finally in charge!
Here we go… again. Some of us predicted Cuba was next on the menu months ago.
My perspectives on the foreign policy of this term are unpopular here and to avoid unproductive arguments I will only add I hope for the best, and that I am eventually proven wrong.
I hope you’re proven wrong also & believe you will be. Time will certainly tell.
Before JFK and Castro refused to get along, there was twice-a-day ocean ferry service between Havana and Key West.
We have embargoed Cuba for more than sixty years now. Isn’t that making their government’s hold stronger, because they’re not allowed to trade with a country that’s so nearby to them that it’s almost visible?
Enough already. Kennedy’s been gone a long time, and Castro’s gone too. It’s time to bury this hatchet. 🪓
JFK was our last president with stones. It takes another one who can fix It!
I still want to know who killed JFK and the Cuba connection with Oswald.
Taking Cuba is a strategic Pressure Plate maneuver. I think I have some of it figured out, maybe half, but still trying to put my finger on the other part(s) I’m missing. It’s my belief that these actions in Venezuela & now Cuba has a direct correlation to Greenland, & indirect correlations to Canada, Mexico, the EU & Dems.
The part I think I have is that if you can make Venezuela, Cuba & Greenland states they will more than likely be red states to potentially preempt democrats long standing desire to make DC & Puerto Rico (blue) states. However, I don’t think it stops there, I think there’s something much deeper in play that would essentially force Mexico, Canada & the EU to capitulate to US policy & direction, the “constrictor” move…the intentional, patient, calculated & deliberate strangulation & suffocation of your prey/nemesis/protagonist until they ultimately realize they are in no position to further defend themselves & they then discontinue their struggle & fight.
Not used to a CIA Director publicly acting as a Sec. of State.
PDJT, is changing all the rules, I love it!
Nicolas Maduro was unavailable to comment.
Clowns in Action historic manipulation in Cuba among other places including many politicos detailed here:
There is a Christian ministry The Solid Rock who travels to Cuba quite regularly preaching the Gospel to the people and giving much needed supplies. It is a worthy place to donate. They are based in Florida. The founder is a former homeless man.
Any truth to the rumour that we’re looking to swap NYC for Cuba? 😉 I believe the Cubans are freer than the dwellers of Gotham and Cubans don’t have to worry about getting their throats slit by “peaceful muzzies”…..
But, it’s just a rumour…
I wonder if those bottles of water placed on the negotiating table were the last ones on the island.
“Time to MCGA!” – Donald J. Trump
Did not have a public CIA meeting with Cuban officials on my 2026 bingo card!
I’ve been watching this guy a little to get a glimpse of what Cuba is like. No endorsement of this guy, just a glimpse of filming inside Cuba to better see the people and the land. Learning. I think of course dem politicians love it as the tourist areas are treated like royalty ignoring the suffering of the Cuban subjects or reveling in it…
I’ve watched Elliot too and it is a good look inside Cuba.
When the Cuban government identifies itself as the Revolution, after several decades it becomes revolting.
Um, the CIA director??!!! So then his swim lane in this is not diplomacy, please correct me if I’m wrong, but something like ‘you guys get in line or some people will be dissappearing.
CIA are known to be ‘places’. Perhaps they’re helping the Cuban people by hurrying some situations regarding communism along to the betterment. Director Ratcliffe might be the man for the job. After all, there is good that comes from his agencies whether we hear of it or not.
I wonder if the Cubans realize the value of those old cars they are forced to drive?
No Kings. No Castro’s.
Cuban intelligence was guarding The Criminal dictator who was sending Drugs into the USA, So I call Bullshite, that they do not support terrorist or crimes against America, Pissoft cuba… Liars still!
Wow!