Why the US is talking with Raulito Castro | CNN

Raúl Castro was being feted by the French, walking up a red carpet to a government palace in Paris during a state visit in 2016 when irate photographers began to yell in the direction of the then-Cuban president. “Please! Bodyguard!” the photographers shouted at the Cuban official who was on Castro’s heels and spoiling their shot. Then-French President François Hollande waved away the Cuban bodyguard trailing the two leaders and the moment became fodder for the country’s late-night comedians. Such a public gaffe might have been a career-ender for any other security official – except the bodyguard in question was also a Castro. Named for his grandfather, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro has for more than a decade acted as part bodyguard, part gatekeeper to Cuba’s most powerful living figure, always just feet away when Raúl Castro appears in public. He would whisper the names of Cuban officials into his grandfather’s ear when the elder Castro, who is 94 and is now at least officially retired, pressed the flesh in receiving lines, and has alerted him in the middle of a speech when the foreign press has been ushered into the room. While he is always in the background,