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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - HAVANA — CIA director John Ratcliffe has met his Cuban counterpart at the interior ministry in Havana on Thursday, after the US renewed an offer of $100m (£74m) of aid to ease the effects of its oil blockade.
The meeting with the head of the CIA, the same agency Cuba has long accused of sabotaging its revolution, comes as tensions between the Cold War-era foes have risen to the highest point in decades.
A Cuban government statement said the meeting was an attempt to improve dialogue and American officials were told Havana was not a threat to US national security.
“Following the request submitted by the US government that a delegation presided over by the CIA Director John Ratcliffe be received in Havana, the Revolutionary Directorate approved the realization of this visit and the meeting with its counterpart from the Ministry of the Interior,” read the statement.
A CIA official told CBS News that the US is "prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes".
Fuel shortages exacerbated by the US oil blockade on the country have left hospitals unable to function normally and forced schools and government offices to close.
Separately, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel said that instead of offering aid, conditions could be eased faster if the US lifted its blockade.
Attending the meeting was Raúl Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of former President Raúl Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas, and the head of Cuba's intelligence services, the CIA official told CBS News.
The delegation met "to personally deliver President Trump's message", the CIA official said.
"During the meeting, Director Ratcliffe and Cuban officials discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability, and security issues, all against the backdrop that Cuba can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere," the official added.
The Cuban statement said: "Both sides also underscored their interest in developing bilateral cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the interest of the security of both countries, as well as regional and international security."
Cuba and the US acknowledged earlier this year they were in talks, but negotiations appeared to stall as the oil blockade wore on.
Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said Cuba was "ready to hear the details of the US aid proposal and how it would be implemented".
On Wednesday, the US state department said it was renewing an offer to "provide generous assistance to the Cuban people".
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said that Havana had rejected a previous US offer of humanitarian aid worth $100m (£74m), a claim Cuba denied.
In its statement, the US state department repeated its offer but made it clear that the aid would have to be distributed "in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organisations", bypassing the Cuban government.
It added that the decision now rested with the Cuban regime "to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical life-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical assistance".
In his response, Cuban Foreign Minister Rodríguez said it was unclear whether the US aid offer would be in cash or in-kind assistance.
He added that "the Cuban government does not, as a matter of practice, reject foreign aid offered in good faith and with genuine aims of cooperation, whether bilateral or multilateral".
He added that the best way the US could help Cuba would be to "de-escalate energy, economic, commercial, and financial blockade measures, which have intensified as never before in recent months".
Separately, CBS News has reported on the US preparing to indict former President Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel in connection with the downing of planes 30 years ago, according to US officials knowledgable on the matter.
The potential indictment concerns Cuba's 1996 deadly shooting down of a plane flown by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue over international waters.
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