Since Donald Trump took office in the US, diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana have become increasingly tense and complex. As was to be expected, US hostility towards the Caribbean island has once again gained momentum in White House policy with the return of the tycoon.
This tension has intensified due to controversial actions taken by Michael A. Hammer, head of mission at the US Embassy in Cuba. In recent weeks, Hammer has begun a series of visits to the Central American country to meet with various sectors of the political opposition.
At the beginning of May, Hammer released a short video in which he announced his tour across the island to listen to “anyone who wants to share their perspective and ideas”. The message was published on the social media s of the US Embassy in Cuba.
Since then, the head of the mission has held several meetings with opposition figures – actions that Havana has classified as provocations and interference in the country’s internal affairs. According to analysts heard by BdF, the US diplomatic representation is seeking to provoke a crisis through deliberately interventionist actions widely publicized online.
One of the key issues in the debate about the embassy’s actions is Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states that “They [diplomatic personnel] also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that [receiving] State”.
While Havana accuses Hammer of going beyond the limits of traditional diplomacy and entering the field of political intervention, the US authorities claim that the meetings are just a way of “getting to know the country” and “listening to Cuban citizens”.
“We will resume a tough policy against the Cuban regime”
Last Saturday, May 24, as part of a US tour, Hammer held a press conference in Miami in front of media outlets linked to the Cuban opposition. During the meeting, he addressed the Trump istration’s current policy towards Cuba and the recent activities of the US Embassy on the island.
“I would start by saying – and I think you already know this, but it’s worth reinforcing – that the Trump istration’s policy is very clear. Secretary of State Rubio declared on February 4: We’re going to return to a touch [Cuba] policy,” Hammer said at the beginning of his statement.
These words coincide with an escalation in the restrictive measures President Donald Trump has promoted since his return to the White House in January 2025. These include Cuba’s reinstatement on the list of state sponsors of terrorism and another list of nations that supposedly do not cooperate fully with international efforts to combat terrorism, decisions that directly impact trade and foreign investment on the island.
During the press conference, Hammer also pointed out that the US government is tightening migration laws that prevent visas from being granted to high-ranking of the Cuban Communist Party and those who have held important positions in recent years.
Regarding the US Embassy’s activities in Cuba, Hammer confirmed meetings would continue. “It is important, once again, to establish with the Cuban people to make it clear that the Trump istration and our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, are attentive to their situation, concerned about it and want to see changes,” he said.
The press conference was broadcast by Radio and TV Martí, which claim to be “independent” media outlets, but are actually financed by the US government with the declared aim of promoting “democracy” and “freedom of information” on the island.
In March 2024, the Office of Broadcasting for Cuba (OCB, in Spanish), which oversees these broadcasts, received US$ 25 million in public funds to maintain its operations.
At the beginning of January this year, through its X (formerly Twitter) , the US Embassy reported that Hammer had “visited Radio and Television Martí during his visit to Miami to learn more about the work they do in reporting on what happens in Cuba.”
For its part, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister for US affairs, Johana Tablada, responded publicly on social media, denouncing Hammer’s press conference as not a neutral event, but a “carefully planned political operation.”
She said the event aimed to legitimize diplomatic interference as if it were “solidarity”, cover up the US-imposed sanctions, exempt the North American country from responsibility for the economic blockade targeting Cuba and position counter-revolutionary figures – financed by Washington – as legitimate spokespeople for the Cuban people.
Trump’s istration vs. Cuba
Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba have remained broken since 1961, when Washington officially severed ties with the island. More than fifty years later, a process of rapprochement began. During the istrations of Barack Obama and Raúl Castro in 2015, the dialogue initiative known as the “US-Cuba thaw” started, culminating in the normalization of diplomatic relations and the reopening of embassies in the capitals of both countries.
Although the economic embargo remained in force – since its revocation depends on the approval of the US Congress – the reopening of the US embassy in Havana aimed at facilitating dialogue on migration and economic issues.
However, that was a short-lived process. With the arrival of Donald Trump as president in 2017, US policy towards Cuba once again took on a clearly hostile tone. The Republican istration adopted a strategy called “maximum pressure”, reversing all the rapprochement measures implemented by the Obama istration and imposing new, severe economic sanctions.
In this context, in September 2017, the United States decided to withdraw all non-essential personnel from its embassy in Cuba. The State Department justified the sudden measure by claiming that, for several months, its employees had been experiencing a series of unexplained symptoms, including dizziness, vertigo, mental confusion and partial hearing loss. Without providing concrete evidence, the agency attributed these episodes to supposed “acoustic attacks”.
The international press quickly reported the State Department’s allegations, dubbing the phenomenon “Havana syndrome”. At the time, the Associated Press (AP) released an audio recording by diplomatic officials as proof of the alleged “sound attack”. Diplomats described the “strange sound” as a noise they heard during the night.
Given the seriousness of the accusations, the audio was subjected to a scientific investigation by the universities of Berkeley (California) and Lincoln (UK). The results, published in 2019, revealed that the sound in question was nothing more than common cricket.
Despite the case’s unusual nature, the accusations had already had concrete effects: The Trump istration used the alleged “attack” as a justification for drastically reducing the number of staff at the embassy and suspending a large part of the consular services offered to Cuban citizens.
Despite Joe Biden’s campaign promises, he maintained most of his predecessor’s sanctions. Cuba remained on the “list of countries that sponsor terrorism”, drawn up unilaterally by the US State Department, despite repeated calls from the international community for its removal, including from the UN General Assembly, until just a week before the end of the Democratic istration.
With Donald Trump’s second presidential term, the “maximum pressure” policy has made a comeback to Washington’s priority list.
