Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, appeared for the first time alongside Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at two public events on Friday, elevating questions, based on analysts, about his function in Cuba’s management as the island faces requires regime change from the United States.
On Friday morning, Rodríguez Castro took half in a assembly Díaz-Canel held with leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Council of Ministers. Later, he attended a press convention the place Díaz-Canel addressed the island’s social and financial crises and confirmed that his authorities had spoken with the US about the stress Washington has maintained on Havana since the Nineteen Sixties and intensified in latest months.
Rodríguez Castro’s appearances got here weeks after reviews surfaced that he has allegedly been in talks with the US about the island’s future.
According to Axios, the discussions have been held with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whereas bypassing official Cuban authorities channels.
NCS has not been in a position to confirm this info with the US State Department or the Cuban authorities.
Still, some analysts and lots of Cubans consider Rodríguez Castro is gaining public prominence and will even assume a management function in the occasion of a change of presidency, as Cuba faces immense political and financial stress from the US.
Cuba’s communist authorities, weakened by a long time of US sanctions and financial mismanagement, is dealing with considered one of its most extreme crises in years, with the nation edging towards a humanitarian emergency. Power outages are widespread, hospitals are reducing again on surgical procedures, shortages of gas and meals are worsening, whereas tourism declines.
The scenario in Cuba deteriorated additional after the January 3 US operation that eliminated Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro, whose authorities had lengthy provided the island with closely backed oil. Severing Venezuela’s relationship with Cuba is a part of Washington’s broader technique of toppling Havana’s communist-run authorities. Since mid-December, Washington has blockaded Venezuela from transport oil to Cuba, economically strangling the island.
US officers say the raid to seize Maduro additionally uncovered Cuba’s vulnerabilities, killing dozens of Cuban safety personnel assigned to guard Maduro whereas US forces suffered no casualties.
Washington’s resolution to go away a few of Maduro’s allies in energy in Venezuela, together with permitting Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to be performing president, signaled that the Trump administration could also be keen to strike offers with Cuban rival factions moderately than search whole regime change.
US officers had already been quietly holding hush-hush conferences with Venezuelan elites earlier than Maduro’s seize and are actually reportedly exploring comparable contacts with influential figures in Cuba.
His grandfather’s bodyguard
Rodríguez Castro, 41, is the son of considered one of Raúl Castro’s daughters, Débora Castro Espín, and Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, a common who headed the Business Administration Group (GAESA), a consortium of corporations below navy command. Rodríguez López-Calleja, who died in 2022, was considered one of the former president’s closest confidants, the Associated Press reported.
Rodríguez López-Calleja was “a man Raúl Castro trusted completely,” mentioned Sebastián Arcos, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. After Rodríguez López-Calleja’s demise, Arcos instructed NCS, his son started to climb the ranks, taking cost of his grandfather’s safety throughout his presidency, from 2008 to 2018.
“Raúl Guillermo, ‘el Cangrejo’ (the Crab), … became head of Raúl’s personal guard, his personal security detail,” Arcos mentioned. “Eventually, he became head of what would be the Cuban equivalent of the Secret Service.”
Photos from Reuters present Rodríguez Castro guarding his 94-year-old grandfather at numerous instances, together with throughout conferences with the late Pope Francis or high-ranking Russian officers.
Rodríguez Castro is broadly known in Cuba by the nickname “Raulito,” a nickname that means “Little Raúl.”
Rodríguez Castro is additionally a grand-nephew of Fidel Castro, who led the Cuban Revolution in 1959 after which was president of the nation from 1976 to 2008. He left workplace as a result of well being issues and died in 2016.
International relations professional Fausto Pretelin famous that Rodríguez Castro has no known historical past inside the Communist Party of Cuba. Diana Correa, director of the worldwide relations program at Tecnológico de Monterrey, believes that his look at Díaz-Canel’s public occasions on Friday factors to each the affect Raúl Castro continues to wield in Cuban politics and the belief the former president has in his grandson.
“What strikes me is … that it’s happening publicly now, but what we should really ask ourselves – and it’s very difficult to know the answer – is how long he has been acting as this channel of communication,” she mentioned.
Another of the former president’s closest associates, Arcos mentioned, is his son Alejandro Castro Espín, lengthy seen by many Cubans as a attainable successor after Castro stepped down in 2018.
“They participate in all these high-level government meetings, even though neither of them holds a government position. They are Raúl Castro’s eyes and ears on everything that happens at the government level. Therefore, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were Raúl Castro’s interlocutors in a supposed negotiation with the United States,” he mentioned.
NCS has reached out to the Cuban presidency for extra details about the present roles of Rodríguez Castro and Castro Espín.
There have been a number of media reviews claiming Rubio and Rodríguez Castro have spoken in secret, one thing neither has confirmed publicly.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community gathering in St. Kitts and Nevis in late February, Rubio referred to the disaster in Cuba.
“Cuba needs to change. It needs to change. And it doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next. Everyone is mature and realistic here,” Rubio mentioned on February 25.
“And they need to make dramatic reforms. And if they want to make those dramatic reforms that open the space for both economic and eventually political freedom for the people of Cuba, obviously the United States would love to see that,” he added.
Correa emphasised that amid the disaster in Cuba, many voters see Rodríguez Castro’s elevated presence as a sign that a change of presidency could also be coming, framed inside talks with the US.
“Many are saying right now that it is indeed a generational shift, taking the reins, even if it’s somewhat behind the scenes, but still operational control,” she mentioned. “By having Castro negotiating, at least externally it seems they are sending the signal that the negotiation is serious because this person represents all state power,” she concluded.