Inside the wood-paneled office atop Havana’s Convention Center, the phone rang with a vintage 1980s buzz. But the man who answered wasn’t Raul Castro. He was home, waiting for word from his lunch date: his favorite grandson, the one they call El Cangrejo.
Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, 42, now occupies the seat of power once held by his grandfather, Cuba’s former president. With piercing green eyes, a buzz cut, and a voice that echoes his great-uncle Fidel’s, he’s a man who claims no interest in politics but is ready to step up when the revolution calls. In his first-ever interview with a U.S. outlet, he made it clear: he wants to deal directly with President Donald Trump.
“I can negotiate with anyone designated by the U.S.,” Rodriguez Castro said, his raspy voice firm. “If given the opportunity, claro que con Trump.”
Cuba is in crisis. A cratered economy, a humanitarian disaster, and an oil blockade from the Trump administration threaten to push the island toward the same fate as Venezuela. But Rodriguez Castro, a former bodyguard to his grandfather, sees himself as the bridge. He holds no formal office, but his last name opens doors. He’s the back-channel operator the U.S. has quietly been vetting for months.
He’s not his grandfather. Raul Castro and Fidel were rarely seen without olive-green uniforms. Rodriguez Castro wears light-blue skinny jeans, a tight Hugo Boss T-shirt, and Hermes sneakers. He sips Aperol spritzes and sings Nicky Jam songs a cappella. But he’s been groomed for this moment. From his teens, he sat in on every important meeting, absorbing the heated discussions between Fidel and Raul. He’s the favorite grandson, the one they call Raulito.
The Trump administration has been coy about who it sees as a credible interlocutor. But Rodriguez Castro has growing lines to senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He’s met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and State Department envoys. He’s avoided sanctions, a telling sign that the U.S. sees him as a potential partner.
He has a vision for Cuba: prosperity drawn from China and Vietnam, but innately Cuban. He’s pushed through sweeping reforms to privatize swaths of the socialist economy, including compensating those whose assets were confiscated during the revolution. He claims Cuba is not a national security threat and is willing to release political prisoners under the right conditions.
But skeptics abound. Critics question whether he can operate outside Cuba’s political framework. Some wonder what happens when his 95-year-old grandfather dies. Yet, in meetings, senior officials defer to him. When he walks down the street, Cubans stop and stare.
For now, Rodriguez Castro is the man in the office, the one with the leather Ferragamo briefcase and the gold medallion bearing the initials of Fidel and Raul Castro. He’s the one who sent a secret letter to Trump, intercepted at Miami International Airport. He’s the one who backed a fuel deal with a Florida-based firm, blocked at the 11th hour by the White House.
He’s the Crab, and he’s ready to negotiate. “Soon,” he said, “the people of Cuba will find all the things they seek in other countries.”
