CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Cuba on Thursday, according to multiple reports, meeting with officials amid high tensions between the U.S. and Cuba fanned by President Donald Trump’s suggestion of a “friendly takeover.”
Ratcliffe made the visit to Cuba on Thursday.
PHOTO BY MOLLY RILEY/THE WHITE HOUSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Cuban government acknowledged the visit in a statement, saying the meeting allowed it to “demonstrate” that it is not a security threat to the U.S. or a state sponsor of terrorism—a designation made by the Trump administration in 2021.
The statement added Cuba does not “harbor, support, finance, or permit terrorist or extremist organizations,” as the U.S. said during talks the island cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” according to the Associated Press, which cited a CIA official.
