February 12, 2026 — Belly of the Beast
Rumors and reports have circulated in the international press and on social media that Alejandro Castro, the son of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, has been representing Cuba in negotiations with the United States in Mexico.
But these reports and Trump’s claims appear to be “fake news”: There have been no high-level negotiations between Cuba and the United States, according to a Drop Site News article published on Monday based on interviews with five anonymous Cuban and U.S. officials.
Trump is “saying that because that’s what Marco is telling him,” a senior Trump administration official told Drop Site.
The official added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s strategy is to pretend negotiations are dragging on so they can later be dismissed as pointless — with Havana taking the blame. Once diplomacy is portrayed as exhausted, regime change would appear as the only remaining option.
If Trump were to reach an agreement with Cuba, Rubio would face a choice: abandon the cause that has defined him and his hardline Cuban-American supporters or step down as secretary of state.
Drop Site’s reporting has been corroborated by The New York Times. An article published on Sunday reports that there have been no substantive negotiations between Cuba and the Trump administration. An anonymous senior State Department official told The Times that there have been no talks about changes to the island’s political or economic system. Communication between the two governments, the source said, is mostly about technical issues, such as repatriation flights.
Last week, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the two countries have had “some exchanges of messages” that were “linked” to the highest levels of government in Cuba, but have not established a “bilateral dialogue.”
In televised remarks last Thursday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuba remains open to dialogue with the United States, but the country’s sovereignty isn’t on the table.
