US military leader held rare meeting with senior Cuban military officials near US base at Guantanamo Bay

By Natasha Bertrand, CNN

(CNN) — The commander of US Southern Command met with senior Cuban military officials on Friday in a rare meeting on the perimeter of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a US military installation located in Cuba’s southeast.

SOUTHCOM said that Commander Gen. Francis Donovan met with Cuban Army Corps Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo – Cuba’s first deputy minister of the chief of the general staff – and other senior leaders from the Cuban military “for a brief exchange on operational security matters.”

The Cuban Ministry of Defense said in a statement: “Both delegations considered the meeting to be positive, where issues related to security around the dividing perimeter of the military enclave were addressed and they agreed to maintain communication between both military commands.”

The meeting comes amid a US military buildup near Cuba, with the USS Nimitz carrier strike group arriving in the Caribbean last week. Donovan also met with the Cuban military officials just days after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned that a US military assault on the island “will cause a bloodbath with incalculable consequences.”

It’s at least the second high-level meeting between senior US and Cuban officials in recent weeks. CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana in early May for a rare meeting with officials from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior and heads of the island’s intelligence services.

Previously “fence line” meetings took place each month between US and Cuban military officials at the Guantanamo Naval Base but up until now they had been suspended since President Donald Trump took office in his second term.

SOUTHCOM said Donavan “led a perimeter security assessment” of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay “and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials.”

The US has accused Cuban officials of hosting Russian and Chinese listening posts on the island and thwarting US interests in the region, CNN reported, and has been applying increasing legal and economic pressure on the Cuban government in recent weeks. That’s in addition to a punishing oil blockade imposed by the US in January, which has plunged the island into economic crisis and led to power cuts, food and fuel shortages.

The Justice Department indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro earlier this month and the administration announced new sanctions on the Cuban government, including its main intelligence agency and interior ministry. Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said that “additional sanctions actions can be expected in the following days and weeks.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.

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