Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been holding secret talks with the grandson of Raul Castro about "the future" of Cuba, according to a new report.
Axios detailed that the talks with 41-year-old Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro are bypassing official channels and show that the Trump administration believes his grandfather is the decision maker in the country.
Rodriguez Castro is also seen as someone who represents a more business-oriented part of the regime who believe communism has failed and believe a rapprochement with the U.S. could be valuable.
"I wouldn't call these 'negotiations' as much as 'discussions' about the future," an official told the outlet. "The U.S. government's position — is the regime has to go," the official added. However, "what exactly that looks like is up to (President Donald Trump) and and he has yet to decide, and Rubio is still in talks with the grandson."
There have been conflicting reports about talks between Washington and Havana as the former continues putting pressure on the latter, largely as a result of its oil blockade.
Last week Drop Site News claimed that Rubio is deceiving Trump about there being high-level talks with Cuban officials, arguing that it is part of a scheme to overthrow the regime.
The official went on to say that Rubio's plan is making a claim in the future that talks failed because Havana refused to compromise.
The State Department rejected the notion: "As the President stated, we are talking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal. Cuba is a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela and with Mexico ceasing to send them oil," an official said in a statement.
Elsewhere in the article, Drop Site News rejected a report by ABC Internacional, which claimed the regime has begun negotiating with the U.S. opening up its economy in exchange for not getting overthrown. It added that talks are being led by Alejandro Castro Espin, son of Raul and Nephew of Fidel. He is said to be engaging with the CIA in Mexico. However, Drop Site News said that is not the case.
Originally published on Latin Times
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