WASHINGTON — CIA Director John Ratcliffe has warned Cuban officials that the Communist island “can no longer be a safe haven for adversaries” of the US while extending an offer of cooperation on economic and national security matters — if Havana makes “fundamental changes.

It was a not-so-secret meeting, which saw U.S. President Donald Trump, not for the first time, dispatch the head of the Central Intelligence Agency to attend and deliver a message on his behalf.

Yet at nearly 95 years old, the younger of the two brothers who led the Cuban revolution continues to be the man who has the final say on the country’s most important matters.