NYT: CIA creates Cuba task force as Trump sharpens campaign against Havana

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has established a secret task force focused on Cuba as President Donald Trump steps up pressure on Havana to pursue economic, political and leadership changes, according to people briefed on the move.

The task force is intended to allow the agency to rapidly direct additional financial, human and technical resources towards Cuba, Caliber.Az reports, citing The New York Times.

It includes case officers responsible for recruiting and managing intelligence sources, analysts, cyber specialists and officers focused on covert influence operations.

According to people familiar with the initiative, the task force's mandate is to create divisions within Cuba's political elite in the hope of encouraging the replacement of perceived anti-American hardliners with leaders considered more receptive to the Trump administration's demands.

The CIA declined to comment.

"The intentions here are no surprise, since Cuba has long been the target of the C.I.A.’s efforts at espionage, subversion and destabilization, including terrorism," Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said in a statement to The New York Times. "And yet the State Department has the audacity to call Cuba a threat for exercising its right to legitimate self-defense."

Unlike the CIA's Cuba task force established in 1960, which oversaw preparations for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion the following year, the current unit has no organised Cuban partners and is not authorised to support lethal operations, according to the report.

The move comes alongside broader efforts by U.S. intelligence agencies to expand their focus on Cuba. The Trump administration has reportedly elevated Cuba to "Priority 1" status in the National Intelligence Priorities Framework, placing it alongside countries including China, Iran and Russia.

As part of that effort, agencies including the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have increased intelligence collection on Cuba, including the use of satellite assets, according to people briefed on the activities. The intelligence is expected to support both military planning and intelligence assessments of Cuba's leadership, military capabilities and internal political dynamics.

The report also said CIA officers are expected to examine intelligence on the financial activities and business dealings of Cuban political figures, with the possibility that some information could later be made public as part of efforts to influence the country's leadership and public opinion.

The CIA's station in Havana, which was closed during Trump's first term following reports of Havana syndrome among U.S. personnel, was re-established in 2024 under the Biden administration. According to the report, officers there continue to face strict surveillance and operational restrictions.