Washington scolds Cuba after crowds heckle U.S. diplomat

Then-U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer arrives for Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

HAVANA -- The United States on Sunday accused ‍Cuba of interfering with the work of its top diplomat in Havana ‍after small groups of Cubans jeered at him during meetings ‍with residents and church representatives outside the capital.

Amid rising tensions between the two countries, the U.S. State Department on social media accused the Cuban government of “failed intimidation tactics,” and it demanded that Havana stop “sending individuals to interfere with the diplomatic work” of U.S. Charge d’Affaires Mike Hammer.

Friction has increased between the long-time ⁠foes after U.S. President Donald Trump last week declared Cuba “an unusual and ‍extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and said he would slap tariffs on any country that delivered oil to the communist-run Caribbean island.

Trump on Sunday said Cuba was “a failing nation” but added: “I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba.”

Hammer, a career diplomat who ​arrived in Cuba in late 2024, has travelled the island widely to meet with political dissidents, Catholic Church representatives and others. The

Cuban government accuses him of seeking to foment unrest. On Saturday, he ⁠posted a video describing alleged harassment following a meeting with local church leaders.

“When I left the parish, a few communists, surely frustrated by how bad the revolution is going, shouted obscenities at me,” Hammer said ⁠in the video on social media.

Subsequently, several more videos surfaced showing ‌small groups of people in two locations ‌during nighttime blackouts, taunting Hammer with cries of “Assassin!” and “Imperialist!”

Reuters could not identify the individuals in the videos, and Cuba’s government has not commented on them.

Cuba’s ⁠foreign ministry last year complained to Hammer about behaviour it said was “interventionist” and alleged he incited Cubans to commit crimes and attack the state.

The U.S. Embassy, which produces the videos, has denied those charges and says Hammer ‌is simply doing his job.

The ‍two neighbouring countries have been at odds since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, but a crippling economic crisis on the island and stepped up pressure from the Trump administration have recently brought the conflict ‍to a head.

By Dave Sherwood

(Additional reporting by ‌Trevor Hunnicutt in Palm Beach, Florida; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)