Top US general in Caribbean meets Cuban military leaders near Guantanamo Bay as tensions rise
The head of the US military’s Southern Command met with senior Cuban military officials on Friday on the outskirts of the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, as President Trump piled pressure on Cuba and did not rule out war.
Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of SOUTHCOM, had a “brief discussion on operational security issues” with Cuban General Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, the US military said in X.
Cuba’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the meeting with X and called it “good,” with the two sides discussing “subjects of mutual interest.”
In the past, US and Cuban officials have been holding “telephone meetings” to discuss security at Guantanamo Bay, which is a source of tension between the two countries because Cuba considers the naval station – which predates Castro’s government – to be illegal.
But it is rare for the head of SOUTHCOM, which oversees US forces in the Caribbean and most of Latin America, to meet with senior Cuban officials.
The latest high-level engagement between the United States and Cuba, following a visit to Havana in CIA Director John Ratcliffe two weeks ago as well Ambassadors of the Department of State last month.
In recent months, the Trump administration has put a lot of pressure on Cuba, which has been frustrated by American presidents for decades. The island nation faced severe power shortages after Mr. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on any country that exports oil to Cuba. The US has it too toughened sanctions again a criminal case 94-year-old former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba needs to make drastic economic and political changes. When Ratcliffe visited the island to meet with Raúl Castro’s influential grandson, he conveyed the message that the US could expand economic and security cooperation with Cuba if it made “significant changes,” a CIA official told CBS News.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has done it dangled the possibility of military actionsaying he is interested in “taking over Cuba in some way” and warning after a war with Iran, “Cuba will be next.” Still, he said earlier this month, he didn’t think an increase would be necessary.
The American intelligence community analyzed how Cuba would react to the actions of the American military and what kind of blowback would follow, CBS News previously reported. Among the concerns: CBS News confirmed that Cuba has acquired attack drones. Rubio also raised concerns about Cuba hosting Chinese and Russian spy agencies.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denied that Havana posed a military threat to the US, but warned that a US attack would cause “bloodshed.”
During Ratcliffe’s meeting in Havana earlier this month, he he came with a visiting guest: One of the military personnel who participated in the capture mission was a Cuban collaborator, former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, in a program that killed dozens of Cubans.
He made a point to present the military leader to the Cuban people as the one who killed their own people in Venezuela, several sources told CBS News earlier this month.
