Rubio holds ‘secret’ talks with grandson of Cuba’s dictator as Trump tries to bring regime change: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly holding secret discussions with the grandson of Raúl Castro, the de facto dictator of Cuba, as the United States seeks to pressure the country into regime change.

The backchannel discussions between Rubio and 41-year-old Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, first reported by Axios, indicate that the U.S. is looking to influence the elder Castro and his inner circle into rapprochement with the U.S. Despite being 94 years old, the administration still see the revolutionary as the island’s real “decision-maker,” the outlet says.

"Our position — the U.S. government's position — is the regime has to go. But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Trump], and he has yet to decide. Rubio is still in talks with the grandson,” a senior Trump administration official told Axios.

It comes as Cuba faces a dire energy crisis, having had its access to subsidized oil from Venezuela cut off since the U.S. captured leder Nicolás Maduro in January. The country is facing a growing humanitarian crisis with food scarce, schools closed, hospitals reducing service, trash piling up, fights unable to take off, and near total darkness at night.

President Donald Trump has accused Cuba of harboring enemies and warned allies that those who provide or sell oil to Cuba will face steep tariffs – that’s left Mexico, one of the few countries that sold oil to Cuba, in a bind.

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The Independent has asked the State Department for comment.

The younger Castro, known as “El Cangrejo” or “The Crab,” has had friendly conversations about the “future” of Cuba with Rubio, a senior Trump administration official told Axios.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who fled the island country during Fidel Castro’s reign, is a proponent of regime change in Cuba.

“It is important for the people of Cuba to have more freedom. Not just political freedom but economic freedom,” Rubio said this month.

“And that’s what this regime is not willing to give them because they’re afraid if the people of Cuba can provide for themselves, they lose control over them, they lose power over them…It has to happen,” Rubio added.

While Raúl Castro is technically no longer formally in charge of Cuba, he still holds a seat in the National Assembly and is considered to have a large influence. The current President of Cuba is Miguel Díaz-Canel – though Rubio has not spoken with him.

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But the administration is reportedly looking for a new leader, akin to Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela. Before Maduro was seized, Rubio and other administration officials were in contact with elites in Venezuela, just as they are doing now in Cuba, according to Axios.

"I wouldn't call these 'negotiations' as much as 'discussions' about the future," the senior Trump official told Axios.

Trump officials have spoken with other young Cuban leaders, but Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro is considered a highly influential figure because he is close to his grandfather, having served as the former leader’s main bodyguard, and has connections to the military and businesses.

But influencing regime change in Cuba is a daunting task, given the U.S.’s decades-long rocky history with the country. Relations were somewhat normalized under the Obama administration, but restrictions were reimplemented under the first Trump administration.