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The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, met this Thursday in Havana with Brigadier General Ramón Romero Curbelo, head of the Intelligence Directorate of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT), a figure who until now has operated in the shadows of the regime's repressive apparatus.
The identity of Romero Curbelo was publicly revealed by Miguel Cossío from the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, based on the photos that the CIA itself published on X —with the faces of the Cuban officials blurred— regarding the meeting of Ratcliffe in Havana.
"This is General Ramón Romero Curbelo, head of the Cuban regime's Intelligence Directorate. He is the 10 of Spades in our The Cuban Deck. The community of Cuban-American exiles knows very well who he is," wrote Cossío on his X account.
Romero Curbelo appears as the "10 of Spades" in The Cuban Deck (La Baraja Castrista), a project launched in February 2026 by the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora and the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba that features 56 key power figures on the island, following the model of the "most wanted" cards used by the U.S. military in Iraq.
According to reports, the general plays a central role in the Cuban state's security apparatus as a key figure in the government's intelligence, counterintelligence, and social control structure.
His leadership has direct authority over the forces responsible for suppressing citizen protests and monitoring dissenting groups.
In addition to Romero Curbelo, Ratcliffe met with the Minister of Interior, Lázaro Álvarez Casas —sanctioned by the U.S. under the Global Magnitsky Act for his role in repression— and with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as "El Cangrejo" or "Raulito," grandson of Raúl Castro and lieutenant colonel of MININT.
The visit comes at a time of deep crisis for the regime: 65% of Cuban territory experienced simultaneous blackouts last Tuesday, and the Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, confirmed on state television that the oil reserves have run out.
"The impact of the blockade is causing us significant harm... because we are still not receiving fuel," stated De la O Levy.
The hardships have sparked protests with pot-banging in neighborhoods of Havana, where residents of Playa shouted, "Turn on the lights!"
The Cuban regime was the first to disclose the meeting through an official statement, framing it as an effort of "political dialogue" and using the gathering to argue that Cuba "poses no threat to the national security of the U.S., nor are there legitimate reasons to include it on the list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism."
According to CIA sources, Ratcliffe conveyed President Donald Trump's message: the U.S. is willing to negotiate economic and security matters, but conditional upon Cuba implementing "fundamental changes."
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio was blunt in assessing the situation on Fox News: “It’s a broken economy, non-functional, and impossible to change. I don’t believe we can change the trajectory of Cuba while these people are in charge.”
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