The United States ambassador to Cuba, Mike Hammer, visited the town of Puerto Padre in the province of Las Tunas this Tuesday, where he attempted to meet with opposition figure Vladimiro Martín Castellanos, who was detained by State Security shortly before the diplomat's arrival.
In a video shared by the United States Embassy in Cuba (@usembcuba), Hammer is seen arriving at the home where the meeting was to take place. There, he talks to a boy, who conveys the message from his parents:
“They told me to tell him that they arrested him”.
Hammer, visibly surprised, responds calmly:
“Ah, well... you tell him that we stopped by to say hello, to see how they are, that we are worried about him. What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor, an engineer, a diplomat, a president?”
The boy gasps upon hearing the last word. Hammer smiles. The moment, brief and spontaneous, reflects the essence of his close diplomacy, focused on direct contact with everyday Cubans, even amid the regime's harassment.
In the text accompanying the publication, the diplomat condemned the arrests:
"I wanted to visit Vladimiro Martín, but he was detained just before we arrived at his house. At least they released him after we left. This happened to several others who wanted to talk to me. I will continue going wherever I'm invited."
The opposition member was released hours later, along with other monitored or arrested activists in Las Tunas.
The episode occurs following a series of acts of repudiation against Hammer in various provinces, and it highlights the contrast between the openness of the American message and the internal repression that seeks to silence any free dialogue.
In Puerto Padre, that exchange between an ambassador and a child encapsulated, in simple words, a larger question: what does Cuba want to be when it grows up?
Hammer, architect of the "domino diplomacy" and the bells of hope
Mike Hammer's visit to Puerto Padre, where he attempted to meet with detained opponents, is part of a broader strategy of "proximity diplomacy" that the head of the U.S. mission in Cuba has been developing since his arrival on the island.
In recent months, the diplomat has favored a form of direct and symbolic interaction with Cubans, moving away from protocol and filled with gestures that appeal to empathy and everyday life.
This Sunday, in Camagüey, Hammer shared a video from the bell tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Candelaria, on the day honoring the patron saint of the city, with an uplifting message: “Here the bells ring in Camagüey! How beautiful! What could it mean?”
That ringing, interpreted by many as a metaphor for rebirth and faith amid political darkness, coincided with the beginning of a discursive shift in the Cuban regime, which for the first time avoided mentioning the "blockade" and offered cooperation to Washington.
Months earlier, in May 2025, Hammer had already surprised the country by sitting down to play dominoes in the street with Camagüeyan teenagers, a scene that circled the globe as a symbol of his "ground-level" diplomacy style.
That image—a foreign ambassador sharing a national game with Cuban boys—was interpreted as a form of "domino diplomacy," a descendant of the famous "ping pong diplomacy" that brought the United States and China closer together in the 1970s.
Since then, his journey through the provinces, his dialogue with opponents, his presence in Catholic churches, and his encounters with ordinary citizens have become an alternative narrative to the official discourse of the regime.
While Havana seeks to project pragmatism and controlled openness, Hammer embodies a humanized diplomacy, grounded in contact, listening, and closeness to the people.
His dialogue with a child in Las Tunas—asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”—captures that philosophy: the attempt to engage with the future of Cuba, even when the present tries to silence it.
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