Cuba tried to deliver secret letter directly to Trump via businessman
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In an unusual attempt to get President Trump’s ear, the grandson of Cuban leader Raúl Castro tapped a wealthy Havana entrepreneur to try to personally deliver a letter to the White House last week outside of regular diplomatic channels, said a U.S. official and former U.S.
official.The letter was formatted similarly to a diplomatic note and carried an official Cuban seal, the current U.S. official said.
The attempted back-channel message to Trump proposed economic and investment agreements as well as sanctions relief, and also warned that the Cuban regime was preparing for a U.S. incursion, the U.S.
official said.But the courier—Roberto Carlos Chamizo González, 37 years old, a Cuban businessman involved in private high-end auto rentals and luxury tourism—was sent back to Havana from Miami after a Customs and Border Protection agent stopped him at the airport, obtaining the letter and ending the effort, the U.S. official said.The White House didn’t answer questions about whether it had received the letter, referring to the president’s recent comments on Cuba.
It couldn’t be determined why the courier was stopped at the airport.The letter was an extraordinary attempt to jump-start discussions with the Trump administration by Raúl Rodriguez Castro, 41, the grandson and chief aide of Raúl Castro, as the island struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.Cuba’s government, whose most important figure is 94-year-old former President Raúl Castro, appeared to try to reach Trump directly by going around Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has long pushed Washington to increase pressure on Havana’s Communist government and force political change on the
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