Cuban officials meet with CIA director after country says fuel has run out - BERITAJA

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met pinch Cuban officials including Raul Castro’s grandson during a high-level sojourn to the land Thursday, Cuban and U.S. officials said.

Ratcliffe met pinch Raulito Rodriguez Castro, Ministry of Interior Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the caput of Cuban intelligence services and discussed intelligence cooperation, economical stableness and information issues. A CIA charismatic confirmed the meetings to the AP.

Ratcliffe was location “to personally present President Donald Trump’s connection that the United States is prepared to earnestly prosecute connected economical and information issues, but only if Cuba makes basal changes. According to charismatic reports, the gathering served arsenic a level for Cuba to coming grounds asserting that the federation poses nary threat to U.S. nationalist security,” the CIA charismatic said.

An charismatic connection from Cuba’s authorities noted that Thursday’s gathering “took spot … against a backdrop of analyzable bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed the Cuba cannot proceed to beryllium a “safe haven for adversaries successful the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the land presents nary threat to U.S. security.

Cuban officials besides took rumor pinch the nation’s continued inclusion connected the U.S. database of authorities sponsors of terrorism.

Rodríguez Castro previously secretly met pinch U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community acme successful St. Kitts successful February. While he’s ne'er occupied a authorities post, he served arsenic his grandfather’s bodyguard and later arsenic caput of Cuba’s balanced of the Secret Service.

Thursday’s gathering comes weeks aft the Cuban authorities confirmed that it had precocious met pinch U.S. officials connected the land arsenic tensions betwixt the 2 sides stay precocious complete the U.S. power blockade of the Caribbean country.

The island’s nationalist power grid suffered a awesome nonaccomplishment early Thursday that severed powerfulness to the island’s eastbound provinces, authorities said, arsenic residents successful the superior Havana faced ongoing blackouts.

The state-run Electric Union said the illness had stripped powerfulness from each eastbound provinces from Guantánamo to Ciego de Ávila, and that crews were moving to reconstruct power, but it did not springiness an estimate for really agelong it would take.

The erstwhile day, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel had described the power business arsenic “tense” aft supplies of oil delivered by a Russian alloy successful precocious March ran out. Cuba produces hardly 40% of the substance it needs to powerfulness its economy.

“We person perfectly nary substance oil, perfectly nary diesel,” Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba’s curate of power and mines, said on Wednesday night.

Russia announced plans to nonstop a 2nd substance vessel to Cuba in early April. According to Russian news reports, the lipid tanker near the Russian Baltic larboard of Vysotsk successful January, but has been stuck successful the aforesaid spot successful the Atlantic Ocean for the past respective weeks.

Power outages successful Havana, wherever authorities person been rationing power, stretched to 24 consecutive hours connected Thursday.

The U.S. blockade of substance to the land has heightened its economical woes, pinch reduced activity hours and nutrient spoilage arsenic refrigerators extremity working. In immoderate cases, hospitals person canceled surgeries.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the U.S. will supply Cuba pinch $100 successful humanitarian assistance and support for outer net “if the Cuban authorities will licence it.”

Cuba’s powerfulness grid is crumbling, but the authorities besides has blamed the outages connected U.S. sanctions aft Trump successful January warned of tariffs connected immoderate state that sells aliases provides lipid to Cuba. The Trump management has demanded that Cuba merchandise governmental prisoners and move toward governmental and economical liberalization successful return for a lifting of sanctions.

Though Trump besides has threatened to intervene successful the country, and Díaz-Canel said precocious that his state was prepared to conflict if that should happen, a root told the AP earlier this period that subject action is not imminent.