AREQUIPA, Peru – Retired Cuban dictator Raúl Castro met this Friday in Havana with Colonel General He Weidong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China.
The state-run agency Latin Press did not provide significant details about the visit of the high-ranking Chinese official but mentioned that the Cuban side was also represented at the meeting by the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General Álvaro López Miera.
Joining the visitor were Hua Xin, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Cuba, and other members of the delegation accompanying He Weidong.
Additionally, the Chinese military official met with Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel the previous day at the Palace of the Revolution.
During their exchange, Díaz-Canel emphasized that in both nations, “the armed forces are an important bulwark in socialist construction.”
The visit of He Weidong to the island comes just a week after the United States’ Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published new evidence and details about Chinese espionage activities conducted from Cuba in collaboration with the Castro regime.
A CSIS investigation revealed four sites within Cuba that are likely supporting China’s efforts to gather intelligence on the United States and its neighbors.
“Satellite imagery and open-source analysis provide an unprecedented view of these facilities and offer clues as to how they might be used to spy on sensitive communications and activities in the region,” the organization stated.
Among nearly a dozen sites of interest in Cuba analyzed by CSIS, the four bases identified are the most likely to be supporting Chinese intelligence efforts. These facilities are located in Bejucal, Mayabeque Province; El Salao, in Santiago de Cuba; Wajay, in Havana; and Calabazar, also in the Cuban capital.
The bases stand out for being equipped with signal intelligence (SIGINT) collection capabilities, clear physical security infrastructure (guard posts, perimeter fences, military insignia, etc.), and other features that suggest intelligence-gathering activities.
Some of these facilities are decades old but appear to have been modernized in recent years, while others have only emerged recently, the study notes.
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