Secretary of State Marco Rubio was revealed by Axios Wednesday to be engaged in “secret talks” with the grandson of ex-Cuban President Raúl Castro, bypassing official communication channels as part of the Trump administration’s brutal campaign to starve the Caribbean nation of resources in the pursuit of regime change.
"Our position – the U.S. government's position – is the regime has to go," one senior Trump administration official told Axios in its report Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Donald Trump] and he has yet to decide. Rubio is still in talks with the grandson."
While Cuba has faced crippling sanctions and an embargo imposed on it by the United States since the late 1950s, an executive order Trump signed last month imposed even harsher penalties on nations supplying the Caribbean nation with oil, setting off a chain reaction that’s shuttered hospitals and starved people of food.
Trump openly cheered his administration’s use of starvation as a negotiating tactic on Tuesday, calling Cuba a “failed nation” that should “absolutely make a deal.” He also refused to rule out an outright attack on Cuba similar to the United States' attack on Venezuela last month.
And on Wednesday, sources revealed to Axios that Rubio is apparently in regular contact with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Raúl Castro, and the great-nephew of Fidel Castro, talks that have reportedly been "surprisingly" friendly.
“I wouldn't call these 'negotiations' as much as 'discussions' about the future," the senior Trump administration official told Axios.
Another source who was “familiar with the talks” told Axios that Rubio is “looking for the next Delcy in Cuba,” referring to acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, who’s led Venezuela since the Trump administration abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month.
“There's no political diatribes about the past. It's about the future,” the source told Axios. “[Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro] could be straight out of Hialeah, [Florida]. This could be a conversation between regular guys on the streets of Miami."
The United States has sought to topple Cuban’s government since the late 1950s after revolutionaries – led by the Castros and Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara – ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, whose leadership, critics say, maintained the Caribbean nation as a “virtual slave state” to the benefit of U.S. companies.