Members of Congress Denied Meeting with Top U.S. Diplomat in Cuba

Belly of the Beast’s journalist Liz Oliva Fernández, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep and Jonathan Jackson (D-IL)

The State Department prohibited Chargé d’Affaires in Havana Mike Hammer from meeting with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) during their recent visit to Havana, the legislators said in a letter to Rubio on Wednesday. 

The letter explains that although an official appointment with Hammer was scheduled, he later told them that “Department leadership directed him not to meet Members or brief them over the phone.”

Jayapal and Jackson visited Havana as members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Upon returning to the U.S., they released a statement calling Trump’s oil blockade a “cruel collective punishment.”

“Given the ongoing negotiations between the Trump Administration and the Cuban government and threats from President Trump to ‘take’ Cuba, denying members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee access to embassy officials sends a troubling message that the Administration is attempting to block voices that disagree with it,” the statement reads.