Top U.S. General Meets Cuban Military Officials at Guantanamo Bay Perimeter in Rare Encounter
By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) — The top U.S. general in charge of military operations across Latin America met Friday with senior Cuban military officials at the perimeter of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, marking one of the most high-level face-to-face encounters between the two sides in recent memory.
U.S. Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, discussed operational security matters with a Cuban delegation led by Gen. Roberto Legra Sotolongo, first deputy minister of the chief of the General Staff, according to a statement from Southern Command posted on X.
“Donovan also led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” the statement said.
The meeting comes as Cuba grows increasingly alarmed over what it sees as the possibility of a U.S. military attack. Havana has accused Washington of escalating rhetoric and imposing harsh economic sanctions, including a fuel blockade that has triggered nationwide blackouts and worsened the island’s economic crisis.
Cuba’s armed forces said in a Facebook post that the talks were held by mutual agreement and that both sides agreed to maintain communication. “Both delegations evaluate positively the meeting where issues related to security around the dividing perimeter of the military enclave were addressed,” the post read.
This rare encounter follows a visit earlier this month by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Havana — another sign of unusual diplomatic activity between the longtime adversaries. President Donald Trump has repeatedly listed Cuba among the key foreign policy priorities of his second term, signaling that the island will become a central focus once the conflict with Iran concludes.
The backdrop is decades of antagonism since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Trump, who enjoys strong support from hardline Cuban Americans in Florida, has steadily tightened the screws on the island. On May 20, the U.S. formally charged former President Raúl Castro with four counts of murder in connection with the 1996 downing of civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles — a move widely seen as a deliberate escalation.
The indictment is the latest example of the Trump administration’s push to reassert influence in the Western Hemisphere. That assertive posture was epitomized by a dramatic U.S. military raid on Jan. 3 in which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — a close Havana ally — was captured in Caracas and flown to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Maduro, who is aligned with Cuba’s leadership, has pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a potential 2028 Republican presidential contender, has stoked alarm in Havana by describing Cuba as a “failed state” that poses a national security risk just 90 miles from Florida. On May 5, Rubio posed alongside Gen. Donovan in front of a map of Cuba in a post on X from Southern Command, which said the discussions focused on “U.S. efforts to counter threats that undermine security, stability and democracy in our hemisphere.”
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has warned that any military action would lead to a “bloodbath” in which thousands of Cubans and Americans would die. Meanwhile, Trump’s effective fuel blockade — enforced by threatening tariffs on countries supplying fuel to Cuba — has triggered rolling blackouts and further battered the island’s already crippled economy. Analysts warn that deepening instability could trigger a new migration crisis.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Costas Pitas and Kylie Madry; Editing by Franklin Paul, Rod Nickel)