Satellite catches expansion of China spy bases in Cuba

Analysts identified four electronic eavesdropping stations, including a previously unreported site near a US naval base.

A satellite image from a CSIS study showing the Bejucal site in Cuba, with upgraded electronic spying facilities. Picture: CSIS/Maxar

Images captured from space show the growth of Cuba’s electronic eavesdropping stations that are believed to be linked to China, including new construction at a previously unreported site about 115km from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

A study from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, follows reporting last year by The Wall Street Journal that China and Cuba were negotiating closer defence and intelligence ties, including establishing a new joint military training base on the island and an eavesdropping facility. At the time, the Journal reported that Cuba and China were already jointly operating eavesdropping stations on the island. It couldn’t be determined which, if any, of those are included in the sites covered by the CSIS report.

The concern about the stations is that China is using Cuba’s geographical proximity to the southeastern US to scoop up sensitive electronic communications from American military bases, space-launch facilities, and military and commercial shipping.

Authors of the CSIS report, after analysing years’ worth of satellite imagery, found that Cuba has significantly upgraded and expanded its electronic spying facilities in recent years and pinpointed four sites – at Bejucal, El Salao, Wajay and Calabazar. While some of the sites described by CSIS, such as the one at Bejucal, have previously been identified as listening posts, the satellite imagery provides new details about their capabilities, growth over the years and likely links with China. “These are active locations with an evolving mission set,” said Matthew Funaiole, a senior follow at CSIS and the report’s chief author.

In its annual threat assessment released in February, the US intelligence community said publicly for the first time that China was pursuing military facilities in Cuba, without providing details.

Chinese officials stress that the US has a vast global network of military bases and listening posts.

The report says that two of the sites near Havana – Bejucal and Calabazar – contain large dish antennas that appear designed to monitor and communicate with satellites.

The newest dish antenna was installed at Bejucal in January, said the report, which found that and other infrastructure upgrades at the sites over the last decade. The most recent of the four sites, still being built and not previously known publicly, is at El Salao, outside the city of Santiago de Cuba in the eastern part of the country and not far from the US naval base at Guantanamo.

Construction there began in 2021.

The Wall Street Journal