By Mauricio Torres, Michael Rios, CNN
(CNN) — Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, appeared for the first time alongside Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at two public events on Friday, raising questions, according to analysts, about his role in Cuba’s leadership as the island faces calls for regime change from the United States.
On Friday morning, Rodríguez Castro took part in a meeting Díaz-Canel held with leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba and the Council of Ministers. Later, he attended a press conference where Díaz-Canel addressed the island’s social and economic crises and confirmed that his government had spoken with the US about the pressure Washington has maintained on Havana since the 1960s and intensified in recent months.
Rodríguez Castro’s appearances came weeks after reports surfaced that he has allegedly been in talks with the US about the island’s future.
According to Axios, the discussions were held with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio while bypassing official Cuban government channels.
CNN has not been able to verify this information with the US State Department or the Cuban government.
Still, some analysts and many Cubans believe Rodríguez Castro is gaining public prominence and could even assume a leadership role in the event of a change of government, as Cuba faces immense political and economic pressure from the US.
How Cuba crisis deepened
Cuba’s communist government, weakened by decades of US sanctions and economic mismanagement, is facing one of its most severe crises in years, with the country edging toward a humanitarian emergency. Power outages are widespread, hospitals are cutting back on surgeries, shortages of fuel and food are worsening, while tourism declines.
The situation in Cuba deteriorated further after the January 3 US operation that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, whose government had long supplied the island with heavily subsidized oil. Severing Venezuela’s relationship with Cuba is part of Washington’s broader strategy of toppling Havana’s communist-run government. Since mid-December, Washington has blockaded Venezuela from shipping oil to Cuba, economically strangling the island.
US officials say the raid to capture Maduro also exposed Cuba’s vulnerabilities, killing dozens of Cuban security personnel assigned to protect Maduro while US forces suffered no casualties.
Washington’s decision to leave some of Maduro’s allies in power in Venezuela, including allowing Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to be acting president, signaled that the Trump administration may be willing to strike deals with Cuban rival factions rather than seek total regime change.
US officials had already been quietly holding hush-hush meetings with Venezuelan elites before Maduro’s capture and are now reportedly exploring similar contacts with influential figures in Cuba.
His grandfather’s bodyguard
Rodríguez Castro, 41, is the son of one of Raúl Castro’s daughters, Débora Castro Espín, and Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, a general who headed the Business Administration Group (GAESA), a consortium of companies under military command. Rodríguez López-Calleja, who died in 2022, was one of the former president’s closest confidants, the Associated Press reported.
Rodríguez López-Calleja was “a man Raúl Castro trusted completely,” said Sebastián Arcos, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. After Rodríguez López-Calleja’s death, Arcos told CNN, his son began to climb the ranks, taking charge of his gran