Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro (born c. 1985) is a Cuban security official and political advisor. He holds the rank of colonel in the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and served as the chief of the General Directorate of Personal Security (DGSP), the unit responsible for the protection of former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro, his maternal grandfather. He is described as a "key figure" (for at least a decade, from 2016) GAESA is estimated to control between 30 and 40 percent of Cuba's national economy and nearly 90 percent of the country's retail trade. His cousin Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, has become known internationally as a social media influencer; Rodríguez Castro, by contrast, maintains a deliberately low public profile and does not operate personal social media accounts. Some of these visits coincided with significant dates in Panama's political calendar. During a September 2025 visit to Panama's Chiriquí Province, sources cited by La Prensa reported that he spent substantial sums of money shopping and was believed to own property in Coclé Province, though this had not been independently confirmed at the time of publication. The meetings were later confirmed to have happened (though location was not mentioned) in The New York Times reporting on 11 August 2026, which also stated that Rodríguez Castro met for talks about U.S. sanctions against Cuba with both (albeit separately) Secretary Rubio and the CIA director John Ratcliffe. Rubio declined to publicly confirm the contact; on 25 February 2026, he stated only: "I won't comment on any conversations we've had."

The talks took place in the context of a severe energy crisis in Cuba following a U.S. blockade that halted petroleum shipments to the island, particularly a blockade of Venezuelan oil, which was critical for the island, which was disrupted after the U.S. arrested then-President Nicolás Maduro. First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly confirmed on 13 March 2026 that such exchanges had taken place, describing their purpose as finding "solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations."

Analysts characterised Rodríguez Castro's role in the diplomacy as that of a messenger rather than an independent negotiator. Cuban-exile journalist Rolando Cartaya stated: "He is not capable of negotiating. His role is marked by his closeness to his grandfather and his power within the military hierarchy."