CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials in Havana on Thursday, the communist government said, as the island endures record energy shortages.
The visit comes at a low moment in US-Cuba relations, after Washington imposed a fuel blockade on its neighbour in January and US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the island and mused about taking it over.
The meeting with Ratcliffe took place “in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations, with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between both nations”, a government statement read.
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The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The exchanges “made it possible to demonstrate categorically that Cuba does not constitute a threat to US national security, nor are there any legitimate reasons to include it on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism”, the Cuban statement added.
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Cuba “has never supported any hostile activity against the United States, nor will it permit actions against any other nation to be carried out from Cuba,” it emphasised, referring to allegations of a Chinese presence.