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The CIA Steps into Havana

HAVANA TIMES — The presence in Cuba this week of the director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, generated a wave of opinions and speculation because, as is customary, there was a great deal of official silence surrounding it.

A report in the Communist Party newspaper Granma confirmed the visit on Thursday, May 14, and described it as an attempt to improve dialogue between the Cuban government and Washington amid the severe energy crisis affecting the island.

In a statement, they insisted that the Cuban side had categorically demonstrated that Cuba does not constitute a threat to the national security of the United States, nor are there legitimate reasons to include it on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

I believe that no sane person considers this territory in total collapse to be a real and direct threat, but it cannot be denied that it has sheltered terrorists, from US citizens with pending trials to members of paramilitary organizations such as the Basque ETA and the Colombian ELN. Likewise, that the Cuban air force shot down two civilian aircraft in 1994; that Russian military vessels repeatedly used Cuban ports; that the Lourdes base was a Russian intelligence center in Cuba; and therefore, that this country’s government shares intelligence information with enemies of the United States.

All of this was recently acknowledged by US Secretary of War Peter Hegseth when questioned in Congress to justify keeping the island on that list.

From US soil, it has been stated that Ratcliffe delivered the message that his Administration is prepared to expand economic and security ties with the Caribbean neighbor if it “makes fundamental........

© Havana Times