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.
A senior Cuban official said in a statement that Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro has received Cuba’s blessing “from the highest leadership” to negotiate with the United States about Cuba’s future, even though he holds no official role in the government.
A social media post by an official of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party marked the first public comment that the grandson of former Cuban leader Raul Castro, who was indicted by the United States for ordering the downing of a U.S. civilian plane in 1996, is playing a leading role in high-stakes communications with the U.S. government. This comes days after USA TODAY published an article about Rodriguez Castro that included a series of exclusive interviews over two days in Havana.
“I can negotiate with whoever the United States designates,” Rodriguez Castro told USA TODAY. “If I have a chance, Of course with TrumpOf course, against President Trump. He also said, “If at some point in the revolution I need to step up, I will.”
Arial Ramírez Cañedo of the government’s Ideology Department wrote that Cuba and the United States have been using secret “interlocutors” for many years. He criticized the US administration as “unserious and inconsiderate” and accused the US media of “character assassination”.
“The manipulation, lies and yellow journalism surrounding Raúl Guillermo, the Cuban interlocutor by decision of the Cuban supreme leadership, are all part of this objective,” he wrote.
Representatives from the White House and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Although Rodriguez Castro is not an elected official, he is known as Raulito or Little Raul and holds the power to steer the country’s future. His decision to speak to USA TODAY marks the first time in 70 years that a member of the Castro family has agreed to be profiled.
Michael Bustamante, a professor of history of Cuba and Cuban American studies at the University of Miami, said this week that many Cubans were caught off guard by Rodriguez Castro’s freedom to speak out publicly about sensitive diplomatic negotiations. He noted that Rodríguez Castro’s role is unclear to most Cubans.
Unlike his family and many senior officials, Rodriguez Castro is not subject to U.S. sanctions. And the United States is not negotiating with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Bustamante said Ramírez Cañedo’s Facebook post was a subtle acknowledgment that Rodríguez Castro was speaking with top authorities, but that even the Cuban government still viewed the United States as an unreliable negotiator.
“The question is, ‘Who is this man who speaks like this? And is he trapped? Or is he being featured in the American media to be divisive?” Bustamante said. “This kind of frank dialogue is not in keeping with the style and discretion of most historic Cuban diplomacy, but it has never been ruled out.”
USA TODAY’s reporting and Rodríguez Castro’s new public role as an interlocutor have sparked acrimonious and divided opinion in the Cuban exile community on the island and online.
Carlos Arzugaray, a former Cuban diplomat and ambassador to the European Union, said in a Facebook post that Rodríguez Castro has departed from conventional diplomatic efforts. He said the situation was too sensitive to be addressed through back channels and through the media.
“It is hard to believe that Cuban leadership at any level would have allowed such shoddy and clumsy behavior on such a sensitive issue,” Alzugaray wrote in a USA TODAY profile from Havana.
The mother of the government’s main spokesperson posted a long message to Rodriguez Castro on Facebook.
“Can someone please bring this kid down from the clouds? Can someone please shut him up? Can someone please tell him this is not a bodyguard’s job?” wrote Maria del Carmen Hernández Callus. “If there’s no one else to tell him that, I will.”
The reaction to Rodriguez Castro’s media appearances is “a little exaggerated,” said Frank Mora, a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University. He noted that Cuba tightly controls the flow of information on the island.
“Everyone is focusing a little too much on whether Mr. Laulito actually has any influence or whether he shouldn’t be vocal, but at the end of the day, he’s confident at the highest level,” Mora said. “As long as his grandfather has been around, he has undoubtedly been the most powerful and trusted figure in Cuba’s ruling class.”
The story about Rodríguez Castro came in the same week that the U.S. embargo on the island was discussed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. As power went out across the country, U.S. representatives lashed out at the Castro family.
“If hospitals don’t have food or fuel, how will there be fuel for Castro’s private family jet? How can President (Miguel) Diaz-Canel afford a Hermès tie? You can look it up online,” said Mike Walz, the US ambassador to the United Nations. “How does he buy a Rolex watch or a Montblanc pen for writing? How does the Castro family buy 17 homes, a private island, and fancy trips to Madrid, Moscow, and the Costa del Sol?”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla lamented at the meeting that what he called an “unprecedented war” by the United States “has become even more brutal and merciless over the past seven months.”
