US top diplomat in Havana promises more sanctions on Cuba
HAVANA, May 23 (Reuters) - The United States' top diplomat in Havana said on Friday the U.S. had more sanctions in store for Cuba just days after punishing several Cuban judicial officials for their roles in jailing political dissidents on the island.
Three Cuban judges and a prosecutor were forbidden from entering the United States on Wednesday, the latest sanctions from the Trump administration, which earlier declared a tough new policy on Cuba.
"The sanctions announced this Wednesday were just the beginning," U.S. Embassy chief of mission Mike Hammer told reporters in Miami. "This administration is determined to sanction repressors. There will be consequences for their actions."
U.S. President Donald Trump has already doubled down on sanctions since taking office in January, returning longtime foe Cuba to a U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, tightening rules on remittances and shutting off Biden-era migration programs.
The 61-year-old Hammer, a career U.S. diplomat who arrived in Cuba just six months ago, has kept a busy schedule, wandering the country widely as he talks with dissidents, small business owners and Cubans of all walks of life.
In videos produced by the U.S. embassy and shared on social media, Hammer, fluent in Spanish, plays dominoes with a group of children in Camaguey, visits the tomb of Cuban hero Jose Marti in Santiago and speaks with family members of jailed dissidents in homes throughout Cuba.
His travels come as Cubans confront the worst economic downturn in decades, a growing crisis the Cuban government blames on the Cold War-era U.S. embargo, a web of restrictions that complicates financial transactions, trade and tourism.
Hammer told reporters on Friday that those Cubans he had spoken with in his travels disagreed that the U.S. was to blame.
"The people recognize that those responsible are the Cuban regime, it has nothing to do with any policy of the United States."
His travels and assertions have infuriated the Cuban government, which accuses Hammer of seeking to stir up resentment in a bid to overthrow the island's communist leadership.
But Cuba has not impeded Hammer's travels, despite issuing a recent warning in state-run media that its "patience has limits."
Hammer told reporters he would continue his work on the island.
"What are they scared of? I'm just a simple chief of mission talking with the people," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Vietnam PM expects US trade deal before July tariff deadline
HANOI, June 25 (Reuters) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said on Wednesday he expected a trade deal with the United States before the expiration of a pause on 46% reciprocal tariffs on Vietnamese exports in early July. Speaking at the "Is Asia's Century at Risk?" panel during the ongoing World Economic Forum in Tianjin, in northeastern China, Chinh said Vietnam's government was in frequent communication with the Trump administration on tariffs. "I hope that you will see that the result will come earlier than two weeks," Chinh said. "Vietnam and the U.S. share a deep understanding on tariffs... I hope that all the positive things will come for us." Vietnam, a major manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia, has held several rounds of negotiations with the U.S., the latest of which concluded last week. The country seeks to avoid the reinstatement of a 46% tariff rate, initially imposed due to its substantial trade surplus with Washington. Reuters reported that the U.S. submitted a list of trade demands to Hanoi, which Vietnamese officials described as "tough", and was also pushing Vietnam to reduce the use of Chinese tech in devices that are assembled in the country before being exported to America. Vietnam's trade surplus with the United States climbed to $12.2 billion in May, marking a nearly 42% increase year-on-year and a 17% rise from April, according to government data. Exports to the U.S. surged 42% from a year earlier to $13.8 billion, hitting a post-pandemic peak. Under pressure from Washington, Hanoi has intensified efforts to curb illegal trans-shipment, predominantly involving goods from China. Additionally, Vietnam has expressed willingness to reduce non-tariff barriers and expand imports of U.S. goods, including planes, agricultural products and energy, though no formal purchase agreements have been announced.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Returned deportee Abrego due in US court over bail conditions
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, June 25 (Reuters) - Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant wrongly deported to El Salvador by President Donald Trump's administration only to be returned to the United States to face criminal charges, is due back in court on Wednesday for a judge in Tennessee to set the conditions of his release from jail. Nashville-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled on Sunday that the administration could not continue to detain Abrego, 29, pending trial on two charges accusing him of conspiring with at least five other members of a smuggling ring to bring migrants to the United States illegally. Abrego, a Salvadoran national who had been living in Maryland, has pleaded not guilty. His case has become emblematic of the Republican president's aggressive immigration crackdown and the pushback from rights groups. His lawyers have called the charges an effort by the administration to justify its violation of Abrego's rights by deporting him to El Salvador despite a 2019 judicial order barring such a move on the grounds that he could face persecution by gangs in his home country. Holmes scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at 2 p.m. CDT (1900 GMT) after expressing skepticism toward the administration's allegations against Abrego including the credibility of cooperating witnesses. Holmes acknowledged in Sunday's ruling that even if Abrego is released from pre-trial detention, he likely would be taken into immigration custody. But the judge's finding that the government had not shown that Abrego was dangerous amounted to a rebuke of Trump's assertion that Abrego is a "bad guy" with a "horrible past." "The court will give Abrego the due process that he is guaranteed," Holmes wrote, opens new tab. Abrego's wife, their young son, and her two children from another relationship are U.S. citizens and live in Maryland. He was deported on March 15 and was returned on June 6. U.S. officials had called his deportation an "administrative error" but initially said they would not bring him back. That raised concerns among Trump's critics that his administration was disregarding civil liberties and due process in its push to step up deportations. In a separate civil case, another judge is investigating whether administration officials violated her order, later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, to facilitate Abrego's return to the United States. The Justice Department ultimately brought Abrego back to face an indictment returned by a grand jury in Nashville charging him with plotting to bring migrants to the United States illegally and then transporting them from the U.S.-Mexico border to destinations in the country. According to the indictment, Abrego often picked up migrants in Houston, and made more than 100 trips between Texas and Maryland between 2016 and 2025. In urging Holmes to detain Abrego, prosecutors alleged that he sometimes transported minors and often brought his own young children on the trips to serve as a cover story. Holmes said she gave little weight to those assertions in part because they came from cooperating witnesses seeking reduced sentences in criminal cases or relief from deportation, including the leader of a human smuggling operation who has been deported five times and convicted of felonies twice. "Each cooperating witness upon whose statements the government's argument for detention rests stands to gain something," the judge wrote.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
US will not sanction Russia yet, Rubio tells Politico
June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Politico that the United States will not impose further sanctions on Russia yet, and still wants room to negotiate a peace deal. "If we did what everybody here wants us to do, and that is come in and crush them with more sanctions, we probably lose our ability to talk to them about the ceasefire and then who's talking to them?," Rubio told Politico in an interview on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Rubio added that President Donald Trump will "know the right time and place" for new economic measures against Russia, and that the administration is working with Congress to make sure they allow Trump the appropriate flexibility, Politico reported. "If there's an opportunity for us to make a difference and get them (Russia) to the table, we're going to take it," Rubio said.
