Exclusive: Raul Castro’s grandson gives first interview with US media
Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban President Raul Castro, gave his first interview with an American publication to USA TODAY.
Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban president Raul Castro, said he is ready to begin negotiations with the United States.
In his first interview with U.S. media, he exclusively told USA TODAY that he is prepared to deal with whoever the U.S. government appoints, including directly with President Donald Trump.
Although he is not an elected official, the 42-year-old man known as Raulito, or Little Raul, wields tremendous power to steer the country’s future.
USA TODAY conducted several exclusive interviews with Rodriguez Castro over two days in Havana in June. This is the first time in 70 years that a member of the Castro family will sit in the profile.
The main points are:
Rodriguez Castro is a negotiator
He has strengthened his direct and indirect ties with high-ranking US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and well-connected US businessmen.
In mid-June, he personally supported a fuel deal with Vanguard Energy, a Florida-based company that trades fuel in the Caribbean and Latin America, two people close to the lobby confirmed. Although the agreement could not meet Cuba’s burgeoning energy needs, it represented a lifeline.
The White House blocked the deal at the 11th hour. This episode highlighted Rodriguez Castro’s ability to sign an agreement between the United States and Cuba.
Cuba maintains independence
Rodríguez Castro stressed that he would never sacrifice the communist principles of the 1959 Cuban revolution or national sovereignty.
“But if at some point the revolution requires me to step up, I will do it,” he said.
The Trump administration has not sanctioned Rodriguez Castro.
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on dozens of companies with ties to the Cuban government, as well as senior administration officials from the president down and their families. Rodriguez Castro has not been sanctioned.
The United States chose to negotiate with Rodriguez Castro rather than Raul Castro’s only son, Alejandro Castro Espin. Alejandro Castro Espin led the negotiations during a brief period of closeness during the Obama era, but President Trump has since scaled back the new deal to avoid turning it into “Obama 2.0.”
he talks about political prisoners in cuba
Rodríguez Castro said Cuba is not a national security threat to the United States and is not a state sponsor of terrorism. And the country is prepared to release “people considered political prisoners” if the right conditions are met.
The Madrid-based legal defense organization Prisoners Defenders estimates the number of political prisoners in Cuba at more than 1,200.
Rodríguez Castro said Cuba is making important and historic reforms to its state-run economy. On June 18, Cuban leaders announced a plan containing more than 170 drastic measures to privatize vast swaths of the socialist economy, but Congress has not yet approved it.
The most obvious concession is to compensate Cubans and Americans whose assets were confiscated during the revolution.
Cuba is ready to change its economic model
Rodríguez Castro said his vision for Cuba is “a prosperity that is difficult to imagine.”
He said Cuba’s model would be “essentially Cuban,” drawing on China and Vietnam, which developed from Soviet-style economies and successfully, if not completely, capitalist transformations.
“Soon,” he said, Cubans “will find everything they are looking for in another country.”
