CIA’s Ratcliffe visits Cuba as US demands political change
Cubans on electric tricycles decorated with Cuban flags pass by the US embassy during an anti-imperialist youth march in Havana on April 2, 2026.
Yamil Lage | Afp | Getty Images
The United States renewed its offer of aid to Cuba in exchange for “fundamental changes” in its communist political regime after CIA director John Ratcliffe visited the Caribbean island nation on Thursday.
Ratcliffe’s trip is thought to be the second visit by the head of the US intelligence agency to the country since the 1959 communist revolution.
According to Reuters news agency, the CIA director delivered a message to senior Cuban lawmakers, saying Washington would “engage seriously” with the country’s government but “only if it makes fundamental changes.”
On Thursday, the CIA released the following: photos with no context on Ratcliffe’s social media in Havana, Cuba.
CNBC has reached out to the CIA for comment.
The Cuban government said in a statement that at Thursday’s meeting “both sides … underlined their interest in developing bilateral cooperation between law enforcement agencies for the benefit of the security of both countries, as well as regional and international security.”
Separately, CNN reported that the US military carried out this action. dozens Intelligence-gathering flights have been operating near Cuba’s largest cities since February.
Cuba is about 100 miles off the coast of Florida. The Trump administration has called the Cuban government an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and suggested that the White House might turn its attention to Cuba once the Iran war ends.
The country has been heavily dependent on oil imports from Venezuela, but the communist-ruled Caribbean island has been effectively cut off since early January after a US military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The White House also imposed new sanctions on a number of Cuban officials and organizations in recent weeks.
As the oil blockade continued, the Cuban population suffered power outages of up to 22 hours a day, sparking protests in Havana. On Wednesday, Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state media that the country has run out of fuel and diesel and has no reserves.
The Cuban government has long condemned the US blockade of the island and insisted it posed no threat to American national security.
The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it was willing to provide $100 million in aid to Cuba, adding that Washington “continues to seek meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system.”
“It is up to the Cuban regime to decide whether to accept our offer of aid or to reject critical life-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical aid,” the statement said.
