Is the U.S. Trying to Provoke a Rupture of Relations?

Marco Rubio has issued a public notice that Cuban diplomats in the United States must notify the Office of Foreign Missions of the Department of State before any “engagements” with representatives of or visits to schools, local or state governments, agricultural facilities or national laboratories. It’s not clear what “engagement” means and whether it includes in-person meetings only, or all communication such as phone calls or emails. Cuban diplomats in Washington, D.C., are already required to notify the Department of State if they travel beyond I-495.

The move comes days after the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Cuba, Mike Hammer, posted a video on Instagram in which he announced he was traveling across the island and encouraged people to speak with him. The video seems innocuous. But given the context of the U.S. government’s economic war, the annual millions of dollars spent on undisclosed “democracy promotion” programs, and recent statements that “transition” on the island is “imminent,” it could be seen as a provocation. Since becoming head of the U.S. mission last year, Hammer has met with dissidents frequently, both outside Cuba and on the island, including prominent activist  José Daniel Ferrer in February.

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Mike Hammer posted this video on social media during a visit to Camagüey, Cuba.

Hammer also met recently with Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas, leader of the opposition group FANTU. Hammer was joined by Leslie Núnez Goodman, a Cuban-American diplomat from Miami who is serving under Hammer as the embassy's public diplomacy officer. After the meeting, Fariñas issued a press release relating what he told Hammer and Núnéz would be necessary to bring about regime change in Cuba: a "social explosion," a military coup, and a naval and aerial blockade (presumably imposed by the U.S. government). Fariñas said he asked Hammer and Núnez to send his regards to Marco Rubio.

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Mike Hammer and Public Diplomacy Officer Leslie Núñez Goodman with Cuban opposition figure Guillermo Fariñas.

On May 14, Hammer posted another influencer-style Instagram video. This time, he visited Bejucal, Mayabeque, to meet with Cubans and "hear their stories, their concerns, their dreams." The post asks people to write an email to the embassy's public affairs office if they want Hammer to visit them.

There is precedent of a U.S. diplomat trying to provoke a rupture of diplomatic relations. James Cason, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba from 2002 to 2005, traveled across the island promising dissidents “moral and material aid,” according to Progreso Semanal. Years later, Roger Noriega, who had been the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs while Cason was in Cuba, told a Miami radio station: “We told our friend James Cason that if only he could provoke the Cuban regime to expel him from the country we could respond by closing the Cuban Interest Section in Washington.”