Time for Ping-Pong Diplomacy 2?
Trump's CIA supremo is in Havana right now.
From CBS News, some foreign policy news that’s more fun to read than hearing the latest from the Strait of Hormuz:
Cuba considers U.S. offer of $100 million in aid amid power grid collapse
Updated on: May 14, 2026 / 7:35 PM EDT / CBS/AP
The U.S. has offered $100 million in aid to Cuba as authorities said the island nation’s national energy grid suffered a major failure early Thursday that severed power to the island’s eastern provinces. Cuba’s leaders have said they would accept the aid as long as it comes “in full conformity with the universally recognized practices for humanitarian assistance.”
The failure came as a U.S. delegation led by the director of the CIA visited Cuba on Thursday and met with Cuban government officials.
The State Department said Thursday it has offered “$100 million in direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people that would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations.” …
The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. on Thursday confirmed the U.S. formally offered $100 million in aid, but said it “remains unclear whether this aid will be in the form of cash or in-kind assistance, and whether it will be directed toward the people’s most urgent needs at this time, such as fuel, food, and medicine.”
“Even taking into account the incongruity of this apparent generosity from a party that subjects the Cuban people to collective punishment through an economic war, the Cuban government does not, as a matter of practice, reject foreign aid offered in good faith and with genuine aims of cooperation, whether bilateral or multilateral,” the embassy said.
The embassy said it hopes the aid offer would be “free of political maneuvering,” adding, “The best assistance the U.S. government could provide to the noble Cuban people at this time—and at any time—is to de-escalate the energy, economic, commercial, and financial blockade measures.” …
“The damage could be alleviated in a much easier and more expeditious way by lifting or easing the blockade,” he added.
The Cuban government and the CIA both said a U.S. delegation that included CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited the island Thursday and held a meeting with Cuba’s interior department.
“The elements provided by the Cuban side and the exchanges held with the U.S. delegation made it possible to categorically demonstrate that Cuba does not constitute a threat to the national security of the U.S., nor are there legitimate reasons to include it on the list of countries that, allegedly, sponsor terrorism,” the Cuban government wrote.
A CIA official told CBS News the delegation met with Raul Rodriguez Castro — grandson of former President Raúl Castro — Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuba’s intelligence services “to personally deliver President Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.” …
After the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested he is eyeing Cuba as well. He has predicted multiple times that the Cuban government will soon collapse, and also said that he believed he would have “the honor of taking Cuba” and that “Cuba’s going to be next.”
In April, Mr. Trump said military action against Cuba is still on the table, telling reporters, “We may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this,” referring to the Iran war.
Senate Republicans last month blocked a Democratic effort to force a vote on a measure to prevent Mr. Trump from launching a military attack on Cuba. …
Rather than another stupid war, how about bribing the Cuban government into giving up its failed ideology?
I’d really like to see Cuba and America get over the past and move one.
Cuba’s power grid is crumbling, but the government has also blamed the outages on U.S. sanctions after President Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The Trump administration has demanded that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is moving toward indicting Fidel Castro’s 94-year-old brother Raul. From Reuters:
US plans to indict Cuba’s Raul Castro, US DOJ official says
By Jana Winter
May 14, 20269:03 PM EDT Updated 44 mins ago
May 14 (Reuters) - The United States plans to indict Cuba’s Raul Castro, a U.S. Department of Justice official said late on Thursday.
The timing of the potential indictment, which would need to be approved by a grand jury, was not immediately clear, but the official said it sounds imminent.
The potential indictment of the 94-year-old former president of Cuba and brother of Fidel is expected to focus on the downing of aircraft, the official said on condition of anonymity.
CBS previously reported that the case relates to Cuba’s deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue.
Ehhhh, that doesn’t sound like the worst thing the Cuban government has ever done. A private plane violated their airspace to drop anti-Castro leaflets and the government shot the intruder down.
Keep in mind that the CIA tried to assassinate Raul’s brother Fidel numerous times in the 1960s. When JFK was assassinated in 1963, LBJ’s initial assumption was that it was Castro getting revenge for all the times the Kennedy Brothers had tried to assassinate him.
What are some more carrots to go with Trump’s sticks to help make a major deal with Cuba to get rid of Communism?
Paywall here.
