CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban government officials in Havana and said Washington would only "seriously engage" with Cuba on economic and security issues "if it makes fundamental changes," Reuters reported on May 14. On the same day, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. government has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in bilateral negotiations.

Ratcliffe's trip is the second confirmed visit by a CIA director to the island since the country's 1959 revolution. In addition to economic and security issues, the meeting also addressed possible intelligence cooperation. The visit came amid media reports that the U.S. government plans to prosecute former Cuban President Raul Castro, and one day after the Cuban government announced the island had run out of fuel and protests erupted in Havana. Also on May 13, the U.S. Department of State offered $100 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba, to be delivered directly to the Cuban people with the support of the Catholic Church. Cuban government officials said the country would be open to accepting the aid if it did not entail preconditions.

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