The head of the U.S. Mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, stated that "the Cuban revolution has failed" and described the situation on the island as a deep economic and social deterioration, marked by an energy collapse, a decline in tourism, and an increase in insecurity.
The statements were made in an interview granted to Telemundo, following his return from Cuba, where he claimed to have witnessed firsthand the deterioration of living conditions in recent months. “The energy infrastructure is collapsing; everything is going wrong,” he stated.
Hammer rejected that the current crisis is a consequence of the measures adopted by President Donald Trump's administration and emphasized that the situation was already critical before Washington's recent decisions.
He explained that the U.S. embargo does not restrict the entry of food or medicine and that Cuba conducts trade with numerous countries.
"The problem is not that there is no trade; the problem is that resources are being used for a repressive state apparatus," he stated, questioning how the regime ensures fuel and vehicles for the police while a large part of the population lacks electricity and transportation.
When asked about the possibility of a collapse of the regime, Hammer stated that the current situation is not sustainable. “What I hear from ordinary Cubans is that the revolution has failed. They see it every day,” he noted, adding that he anticipates a political change in Cuba by 2026.
Although he avoided providing details on how this change would occur, he acknowledged that there are discussions with sectors of power and compared the process to what has recently happened in Venezuela, indicating that part of the leadership itself is aware of the exhaustion of the current model.
Hammer insisted that any transition must lead to greater freedoms and a profound reconstruction of the country, and emphasized that the United States seeks to support the Cuban people without legitimizing or prolonging the regime's hold on power.
Recently, the diplomat said: “If I had closed my eyes and opened them in those neighborhoods, it's as if I were there in Africa.”
With that statement, the chargé d'affaires of the United States Embassy in Cuba made one of the harshest comparisons heard in recent months regarding the crisis on the Island, asserting that the poverty he observed in Cuban communities affected by Hurricane Melissa reminded him of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the poorest countries on the planet.
Hammer made the statements during an interview with journalist and host Enrique Santos on the program iHeartRadio, where he shared his experience after traveling through various Cuban provinces and speaking directly with residents.
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