US Steps Up Intelligence Operations in Cuba as CIA Forms Secret Task Force

The CIA has established a secret task force targeting Cuba to foster divisions within the elite and pressure the regime, according to a New York Times report.

CIA Establishes Secret Task Force

Case officers who recruit and handle spies, intelligence analysts, cyber operations specialists, and influence operations experts have begun joining a team formed by the US Central Intelligence Agency, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The NYT recalled that the CIA also formed a Cuba task force in 1960, and a year later its members oversaw preparations for the failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government that went down in history as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Narrower Objectives and Additional Satellites

According to the newspaper’s sources, the tasks assigned to the new team are more limited. It aims to create divisions within the Cuban elite to prompt the regime to replace anti-American hardliners with new leaders more willing to meet the demands of US President Donald Trump. The CIA declined to comment on the matter.

The NYT reported that US intelligence agencies recently intensified operations to obtain more accurate data on the situation in Cuba, deploying additional spy satellites. The intelligence data could help the US military update plans for a potential military operation if Trump decides on that option, the newspaper assessed.

Maduro’s Fall and Trump’s Stance on Cuba

In January, US special forces captured long-time authoritarian leader of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, one of the closest allies of the government in Havana. Following Maduro’s overthrow, the US practically cut off Cuba from oil supplies, significantly deepening the ongoing economic and energy crisis on the island.

The US president believes that the communist-governed Cuba, located 150 km from the coast of Florida, poses an “extraordinary threat” to the national security of the United States. He has repeatedly warned that he could “take control” of it.