On April 10, State Department officials visited Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including Raul Rodriguez Castro, grandson of Cuban leader Raul Castro, Axios reported, citing sources in the US administration.
According to the sources, US officials “called for democratic and economic freedoms“ on the island, while stating that the republic's authorities have “only a small window of opportunity to implement reforms with US support before circumstances deteriorate irreversibly“. In return, US officials offered “assistance in eliminating“ of the trade and economic embargo, as well as providing the island with access to the Starlink satellite communications system.
As Axios notes, State Department officials also “expressed concern about the activities of foreign intelligence, military and terrorist groups operating with the permission of the Cuban government within a 100-mile radius of [the United States]“. According to the portal, the visit of the American delegation “last Friday was a diplomatic breakthrough in itself, as a US government aircraft landed there for the first time in 10 years, after Obama's visit“.
Trump announced on March 5 that Washington intends to work on developing a further course of action regarding Cuba after the military operation against Iran is concluded. He has previously repeatedly claimed that Cuba's government and economy are close to collapse after Venezuela cut off oil supplies to the island nation under pressure from the United States. On February 27, Trump said the United States could "establish friendly control over Cuba." On March 13, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced that Havana and Washington had held talks "aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to bilateral differences." Meanwhile, as Axios reported in February, citing sources, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been secretly discussing the island's future with Castro's grandson.