When CIA Director John Ratcliffevisited Havana last weekfor a rare meeting with senior Cuban officials, he brought along one of the operators involved in the U.S. mission to capture then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, multiple people familiar with the matter told CBS News.

Venezuela and Cuba were key allies before Maduro's arrest, and the Cuban governmenthas said32 of its military and police officers were killed in theJanuary operation to extract Maduro.

Ratcliffe made a point of introducing the paramilitary leader to the Cubans as the one who killed their people in Venezuela, several sources said.

The presence of a paramilitary officer who was involved in capturing a key partner of the Cuban government just months earlier may have been intended to send a signal.

Ratcliffe's visit followed months of pressure on Cuba. The administration has threatened steep tariffs on any countries that export oil to the island nation, leading to severe fuel shortages.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the country needs to make fundamental economic and political reforms, and President Trump has floated a "friendly takeover" of the island, which has vexed U.S. administrations since Cuba's communist movement rose to power in 1959.

Hours after the Maduro raid, Rubio pointed to Cuba's ties to Venezuela,telling reportersthat Venezuela's "whole spy agency" was "full of Cubans."

"If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned, at least a little bit," he said.

A CIA official said Ratcliffe delivered a message to Cuba that the U.S. is "prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes."

One of the figures that Ratcliffe met with was Raúl Rodriguez Castro, or "Raulito," the grandson of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, the CIA official told CBS News last week. Less than a week later, an indictment against the 94-year-old elder Castro wasunsealed in U.S. federal court, charging him with murder and conspiracy for Cuba's fatal downing of two planes in 1996.

Source: Drudge Report