US Charge d’Affaires to Cuba Mike Hammer attends a memorial mass for late Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz at Our Lady of Charity Church, Cuba, on Oct. 21, 2025 in Havana, Cuba. | Image Credit: Reuters
The United States on Sunday (Feb 1, 2026) accused Cuba of interfering with the work of its top diplomat in Havana, after small groups of Cubans jeered him at meetings with residents and church representatives outside the capital. Amid rising tensions between the two countries, the State Department on social media accused the Cuban government of “failed intimidation tactics” and urged Havana to stop “sending individuals to interfere with the diplomatic work” of US Charge d’Affaires Mike Hammer.
Clashes between the longtime foes have increased since US President Donald Trump last week declared Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security and said he would impose tariffs on any country that delivers oil to the communist-run Caribbean island.
Mr Trump on Sunday (Feb 1, 2026) said Cuba was a “failed country” but added: “I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba.”
Mr. Hammer, a career diplomat who arrived in Cuba in late 2024, has traveled extensively across the island to meet with political dissidents, Catholic Church representatives and others. The Cuban government accused it of trying to foment unrest.
On Saturday (January 31, 2026), he posted a video describing the persecution after a meeting with local church leaders.
“When I came out of the parish, some communists, clearly frustrated with how badly the revolution was going, shouted obscenities at me,” Mr Hammer said in a video on social media.
Subsequently, several videos surfaced showing small groups of people in two locations during nighttime blackouts, shouting “Massacre!” and “imperialism!”
Reuters The individuals in the videos could not be identified and the Cuban government has not commented on them.
Cuba’s foreign ministry last year complained to Mr Hammer about what it called “interventionist” behavior and accused him of inciting Cubans to commit crimes and attack the state.
The US Embassy, which produced the videos, has denied the allegations and says Mr Hammer was simply doing his job.
The two neighboring countries have been at loggerheads since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, but the island’s crippling economic crisis and pressure from the Trump administration have recently brought the conflict to a head.
Published – February 02, 2026 at 05:16 am IST
