Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former President Raúl Castro reportedly involved in negotiations with the U.S., appeared for the first time this Friday on the island's state television, participating in two key government meetings. This fact is relevant and unprecedented, as it was not public knowledge that Rodríguez Castro held any position in the Cuban government or key posts in the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one) or in the island's Army. His role as head of his grandfather's personal security had until now led him to appear frequently at public acts, but always in a discreet second place, right behind the former president. In these two government meetings, Rodríguez Castro did not attend as an escort, but alone: seated among the representatives of the Cuban government and the PCC's Political Bureau, the epicenter of power in the party and the country. The first meeting in which Rodríguez Castro participated was the meeting where the president of Cuba and first secretary of the PCC, Miguel Díaz-Canel, informed members of the PCC and the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers that representatives of the Cuban government had maintained contacts with the U.S. Executive. State television images showed him in the front row of a small amphitheater at the Palace of the Revolution, next to Brigadier General José Amado Ricardo Guerra, secretary of the Council of Ministers and a member of the Political Bureau. The second act was Díaz-Canel's press conference in which, in addition to explaining these contacts with the U.S., he spoke about the energy crisis, the fast boat incident, and the controversy over humanitarian aid from Mexico. Rodríguez appeared again among the select group of high-ranking government and PCC officials who attended the event, on the side of the second row, which the cameras focused on several times, also when Díaz-Canel referred to those present. On neither occasion did state television make any explicit mention of Rodríguez or the reason for his presence at these meetings. Rodríguez was identified in exclusive reports by the American media Axios and Miami Herald as the leader of the Cuban side in contacts with members of the State Department and even with its secretary, Marco Rubio. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has repeatedly assured in recent weeks that his Administration was maintaining conversations with representatives of the Cuban authorities. The Cuban government rejected for weeks any negotiation, especially by people who did not hold organic positions in the Cuban government, but two weeks ago it stopped denying it.
