As the Donald Trump U.S. administration is pressuring Cuba's economy with all-out sanctions, it has reportedly even set up a secret task force (TF) to induce rifts within Cuba's political circle.
On the 5th (local time), the New York Times (NYT) reported that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has set up a secret TF to induce rifts within Cuba's political circle. The organization is said to aim to spur divisions among Cuba's political elite to bring about the economic, political, and leadership reforms demanded by President Trump.
With the launch of this TF, the CIA can deploy budget, personnel, and technological asset to Cuba more quickly. The NYT said field operatives who recruit and manage overseas sources, intelligence analysts, cyber operations Directors, and experts in covert influence operations have already begun to be additionally assigned to the new organization.
Earlier, the U.S. political outlet Politico also reported, citing sources, that "the United States recently dispatched spies and informants to Cuba," adding that it was "a measure to pressure the Cuban communist regime to embark on reforms or step down from power."
In the 1960s during the Cold War, the CIA led the Bay of Pigs invasion by training and supporting Cuban exiles to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime and then sending them in, but the operation ended in failure. Since then, the United States has conducted intelligence operations in Cuba for decades, but on-site intelligence activities were significantly curtailed after the "Havana syndrome" incident, in which U.S. intelligence and diplomatic personnel stationed in Cuba suffered unexplained illnesses.
The creation of the TF is seen as a move reflecting President Trump's strategy toward Cuba. Due to long-running U.S. energy embargo measures, blackouts are frequent in Cuba and the tourism industry, a key source of foreign currency, has reached the point of collapse, but the regime is still holding on.
Accordingly, just as the United States abruptly arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro early this year and an interim president friendly to the United States, Delcy Rodríguez, took power, the move is seen as a plan to create rifts within Cuba's strongly anti-U.S. political elite and induce a change in leadership more likely to accept U.S. demands.
However, the scope of activities for the Cuba secret TF appears likely to be more limited than in the past. Unlike the Cuba TF in the 1960s, which even trained and armed Cuban exile forces during the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA is not known to possess an organized Cuban partner force now, nor to have the authority to support lethal attacks.
The creation of the TF also coincides with the Trump administration's move to step up intelligence collection to better grasp the situation inside Cuba. The Trump administration recently revised the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF), which sets priorities for intelligence collection, and designated Cuba, along with China, Iran, and Russia, as a top-tier "Priority 1" country. As a result, U.S. intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) have begun to concentrate satellites and various intelligence collection asset on Cuba more than before, officials said.
The NYT said, "The Cuba TF plans to analyze newly obtained intelligence and closely track the internal trends of Cuba's leadership and political elite," adding, "In particular, it is closely examining opaque money flows and domestic and overseas business transactions, and is also considering ways to disclose them going forward to influence Cuba's leadership and public opinion."