General Francis Donovan, commander of the United States Southern Command and the highest military authority for Latin America, held an unprecedented meeting this Friday with high-ranking officials of the Cuban Armed Forces in the perimeters of the Guantanamo Naval Base, located at the eastern tip of the island.
According to a U.S. official who confirmed to Reuters on condition of anonymity, Donovan led a brief meeting with a Cuban military delegation headed by General Roberto Legra Sotolongo, first deputy minister and chief of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
Francis Donovan in Caracas.
According to the information released, the meeting addressed issues related to operational security and the functioning of the area surrounding the U.S. base in Guantanamo, one of the most sensitive points in the bilateral relationship between Washington and Havana.
U.S. sources indicated that there are no recent precedents for a visit or similar meeting involving a chief of Southern Command with members of the Cuban military leadership. The meeting also occurs at a time of increasing political tension between the two countries.
In recent weeks, the communist regime has expressed concern about the possibility of an escalation in U.S. pressure on the island. The administration of Donald Trump has progressively hardened its stance towards Havana and has resumed a maximum pressure strategy against the Castro dictatorship.
The meeting also comes just weeks after another visit considered unusual: that of CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Cuba in the month of May. That trip fueled speculation about possible negotiations, exchanges of information, or contacts related to regional security issues.
John Ratcliffe in Cuba.
On the other hand, the U.S. government has taken concrete steps to increase judicial and diplomatic pressure on former leaders of the regime. On May 20, Washington formally accused former dictator Raúl Castro of the downing of aircraft belonging to the organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, an episode that resulted in the deaths of four people and remains one of the most sensitive cases in the relationship between the two countries.
So far, no further details have emerged about the content of the conversation between Donovan and the Cuban high command, although it is expected that new clarifications regarding the scope of the meeting and the topics discussed during the meeting in Guantanamo will arise in the coming hours.
