Secret Signals: Decoding China’s Intelligence Activities in Cuba

Bejucal
22° 56' 54.5"N 82° 21' 46.29"W
Nestled in the hills overlooking the capital city of Havana is the largest active Cuban SIGINT site reviewed by CSIS. Located near Bejucal, the complex gained notoriety during the Cold War for housing Soviet nuclear weapons in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

For decades, Bejucal has been subject to suspicion for its possible ties to Chinese intelligence activity, including in English and Spanish -language media reporting, U.S. congressional testimony, and unclassified government documents.

It even featured in the 2016 U.S. presidential primary debates, when Florida senator Marco Rubio called on Havana to "[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal."

Satellite imagery from March 2024 reveals that the area has undergone major updates over the past decade-a clear indication of an evolving mission set. This includes the construction of a mysterious new radome that may contain a radar or ELINT system.

El Salao
20° 0'19.16"N 75°44'48.49"W
On the opposite side of the island is a new SIGINT complex that has previously gone unreported. There have been numerous unverifiable sourcesasserting that China has operated a large antenna field in the country's far eastern province of Santiago de Cuba since 1999. Access to such an outpost would provide China with a highly strategic vantage point near Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a key U.S. military base in the region.

CSIS analyzed satellite imagery covering 2,900 square kilometers of the province but did not find such a facility. However, CSIS did uncover a significant new SIGINT collection site under construction just east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, near a neighborhood called El Salao. The structure, whose construction began in 2021, appears to be a large CDAA with a projected diameter of 130 to 200 meters.

Once operational, this CDAA will serve as a powerful tool for enhancing air and maritime domain awareness in the region, where the U.S. military and its international partners operate regularly. Some CDAAs of this approximate size are reportedly able to track signals anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 nautical miles away.

Sites like these were a staple of SIGINT during the Cold War. As hostilities between the two superpowers faded and new technologies emerged, Russia and the United States decommissioned or abandoned most of their CDAAs. China, however, has been actively building major new CDAAs, including on its militarized outposts on Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in the South China Sea.

Wajay
23° 0'27.63"N 82°25'13.48"W
Less than 10 kilometers north of Bejucal lies a smaller facility known as Wajay. The presence of security fencing and two guard posts strongly suggests that the site is intended for military or other sensitive activities.

The compound has gradually expanded over the past 20 years, growing from just one antenna and several small buildings in 2002 to a robust complex today. It now hosts 12 antennas of various sizes and orientations, significant operations and support facilities, and even a small solar farm.

Unsubstantiated rumors suggest that China played a role in either the site's construction or its modernization.

No dish antennas are visible here, suggesting its purpose is primarily terrestrial signal interception and transmission. However, the variety of antennas present is a clear indication that Wajay is responsible for a reasonably complex SIGINT mission set.

Calabazar
23° 0'48.87"N 82°19'58.91"W
Close by, a small Cuban military complex (which is associated with the name of the nearby town of Calabazar in declassified U.S. government documents) bears the hallmarks of SIGINT operations. Over a dozen dish antennas of varying sizes are scattered throughout the secured location alongside two visible pole antenna arrays. As is often the case with military intelligence installations, the number, location, and orientation of the antennas have shifted considerably over time, likely adjusting to changes in the site's mission set. The newest dish was installed in 2016.

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