Is the Top US Diplomat’s Time in Havana Almost Up?
By Francisco Acevedo
HAVANA TIMES – Mike Hammer only took office as head of the US mission in Havana in November 2024, still under the Biden administration, and at the pace he’s going, he’s on the verge of being declared persona non grata.
It turns out Hammer isn’t content to stay quietly in his air-conditioned office without suffering blackouts—he’s had the audacity to go out and walk the streets of Cuba to get a sense of how people feel about the harsh reality they are living.
After traveling the country from west to east, the diplomat declared in Miami that he witnessed a sense of failure regarding the Revolution, and that public discontent on the Island is widespread. Hammer revealed that those he interviewed included sectors traditionally linked to the state apparatus, though he gave no further details.
The official stated that most Cubans believe the Revolution has failed to deliver on its promises and attribute the energy crisis, food and medicine shortages to the failures of the Cuban regime.
Despite being constantly watched by Cuban authorities, something he himself confirmed (“There’s a lot of surveillance, you see Ladas everywhere, they’re filming us all the time,” he said), he has recently visited opposition figures and ordinary citizens, and has shared his activities on the official social media accounts of the US Embassy in Havana.
Naturally, his visit to Santiago de Cuba included a stop to see Nelva Ortega, wife of well-known dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, who is currently imprisoned. Hammer also called for Ferrer’s release.
This same month, in Havana, he met with veteran dissident Marta Beatriz Roque, leader of the Ladies in White; in Cienfuegos, he visited Juan Alberto de la Nuez, another opposition figure who was recovering from a reported attack; in Santa Clara, he saw dissident Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas; and in Trinidad, he met with Catholic priest Jose Conrado, a well-known critic of Cuba’s political system. He also showed interest in imprisoned figures like Luis Manuel Otero and Maykel Castillo “El Osorbo,” to name only the most well-known.
Predictably, none of this has gone over well with the government led by Miguel Diaz-Canel, which has accused Hammer of “interference,” of promoting subversion, and of violating the principle of non-intervention enshrined in the Vienna Convention, the international treaty governing diplomatic relations between states. They warned him that their “patience has a limit.”
Nonetheless, Hammer has continued his travels and maintains his stance on engaging directly with Cubans, either in person or via email. The former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and former spokesperson for the White House National Security Council speaks perfect Spanish, having lived in Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, and Venezuela.
The US embassy confirmed that hundreds of people had written to request meetings with him. But with the stir this caused, State Security immediately intervened to discourage any interaction with Cuban citizens by any means, which traditionally leads to interrogations or surveillance by the dictatorship’s repressive forces.
As for the possibility of drastic action against him, the Cuban government knows that expelling him from Havana could lead to reciprocal expulsions of Cuban diplomats in Washington and New York, as has happened in the past. And they don’t have enough trustworthy “cadres” to be constantly replacing them.
Moreover, Cuban officials are currently intensifying lobbying efforts to seek economic aid and business deals, boost their usual campaigns against the embargo, and try to curtail Trump administration policies toward the island.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) maintained its usual stance, claiming that it is the United States’ unilateral coercive measures that are responsible for Cuba’s deep crisis.
As is typical of the regime’s discourse, at no point did it take any responsibility for the situation that is gravely affecting ordinary Cubans. It labeled the families of political prisoners as “figures directly or indirectly funded” by the US government and dismissed the diplomat’s statements as false.
In recent months, Minrex has summoned US diplomats three times to issue “strong protests” over what it sees as acts of “interference.”
Once again, this policy is an attempt to justify censorship and the lack of informational pluralism in the country, while Hammer maintains that he’s been warmly and kindly received in the homes he’s visited.
In fact, the man has probably been inside more Cuban homes than Diaz-Canel himself—let alone Raul Castro, who never set foot in the home of an ordinary Cuban, feeling far too untouchable.
The truth is that Hammer is carrying out the directives of the current Trump administration toward the island, spearheaded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and based on a renewed hardline approach toward the regime and support for the Cuban people.
Although opening another diplomatic conflict isn’t in Havana’s interest right now, it remains to be seen how long the regime’s patience will hold regarding this increasingly troublesome diplomat.
Personally, I think his time is short. But who knows? Maybe Cuban authorities realize that going after the messenger won’t stop the message, and that expelling Hammer would be pointless if whoever replaces him comes with the same strong commitment to current US policy toward the island.
Cuba understands that Hammer, albeit a pain in their butt, is a far sight better than anyone else that Trump would send to replace him. The racist DNA of the United States would never accept Cuba as a state. Puerto Rico is the real-time example of the “no more brown people” policy the US maintains. I believe that Raul Castro has absolutely visited homes of “regular” Cubans. There are all kinds of local rumors about a younger Raul’s sexual preferences and there are a handful of alleged former lovers who were regular folks. The US doesn’t support dissidents in Cuba in the way one of the commenters implied. However, there is a strong Cuban community in the US that absolutely gathers financial support for the Cuban resistance on the island. Finally, if the Castro dictatorship believes that everything is going to turn out OK so long as critics don’t “stir the pot”, then they really have their heads up their butts. Forecasters predict a hotter than usual summer this year in the Caribbean. Water temperatures are higher than normal which points to a very active hurricane season. Couple these natural hurdles with daily blackouts and the home visits of a pesky US diplomat is the least of the Castros problems.
If as you would like to see B Kwick that Cuba be a 51st State , then that would spell the end of Canadian tourism.. who wants to visit another “Florida” , with the “ugly americans “ all over the island and a McDonalds, and Crispy Creme on every corner with StarBucks. No we would have to find another warm place to visit.
What is the source that Raul Castro has never been in an ordinary Cuban’s home?
Now you just got to like this take on Canada , the best country in on the planet
Many pray Canada is able to end all trade with the USA. The country is moving towards China which will assist to build a greater power than the US.
Perhaps, B Kwick, you can explain for the readers explicitly what exactly you mean by your totally untrue, ridiculous statements, and I quote: “ . . . Canadians are too weird and pretentious.” and that Canadians “ . . . are totally unremarkable.”
Any Canadian reading your outrageous assertions would be offended to say the least. Canadians are very proud people. When the President of the United States explicitly and publicly states he wants to make Canada the 51st American state, well, Canadians with – elbows up – flatly and completely refuse to submit. We are a sovereign nation. Period.
Cuba is also a sovereign state. Like Canada, I am sure, they also outrightly refuse to be considered a puppet American state. After their long bloody history of foreign subjugation, Cubans have more of a reason to totally reject any nefarious American intervention intention such as a 51st state subjugation or suggestion.
That aside, let me school you regarding your atrocious statements attributed to Canadians because obviously you are quite ignorant about Canada and its people. Perhaps by your assertions you mean that Canada and by extension Canadians have the temerity, fortitude, and gumption to stand up to Donald Trump. Is that what you mean by “too weird and pretentious.” ? Please explain.
How remarkable it has been throughout recent history how Canadians and Americans fought side by side – comrades in arms – in WW 2, Afghanistan, and other conflicts. How remarkable it was during the suicide airplane attacks on the twin towers in New York when the American administration closed American airspace it was Canada in Labrador who open its airspace and hospitable arms to the beleaguered Americans. Remarkable friendship, I’d say.
Let me give you some contrary examples of Canada’s remarkableness. It was Canada who said NO to the American administration regarding the invasion of Iraq on the pretence of “weapons of mass destruction”. How remarkable it is for Canadians to stand up for what they believe.
Another example. It was a Canadian Prime Minister- Pierre Elliott Trudeau – who had the temerity and gumption to visit Fidel Castro in Cuba much to the chagrin and consternation of the American administration at that time. Imagine that! Absolutely remarkable how Canadians, not pretentious, not weird, but resolute and resilient in their beliefs and values.
It would do you good, B Kwick, to educate and edify yourself about Canada and Canadians before making outrageous assertions that have absolutely no basis in truth or reality.
In a rational world, the US would end the unjustified economic warfare of a unilateral internationally condemned embargo. We would also cease financial and diplomatic support for the political opposition, behavior we do not tolerate by foreign governments in the US.
For its part in a rational world Cuba would stop its repression of political opposition parties and individuals and rely on open debate and institutional power to overcome them.
I am not holding my breath for rationality on either side. It is too easy to stay in the past.
Hammer would be a good governor of Cuba if the Cubans ever decide to be the 51st state of the United States.
Cuba would be much better than Canada, which has a lot of resources but the Canadians are too weird and pretentious. Other than that, they are totally unremarkable.
Cuba would be better than Puerto Rico, Panama, Greenland or Gaza.
Cuba would be an absolute jewel, a tourist paradise with aspects of Hawaii, Florida, the Bahamas and the French, Spanish and Italian coasts of the Mediterranean. It would be the number one destination for the world.