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The head of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, met in Miami with the Lady in White Leticia Ramos Herrería, whom the Cuban regime is preventing from returning to the island despite being a Cuban citizen.
The Embassy itself reported the meeting on March 2 through its official account on X: “Our Chief of Mission Mike Hammer met in Miami with Leticia Ramos, a Dama de Blanco, who the regime does not permit to return to Cuba. It’s inexplicable!”
The post was accompanied by a photograph in which Hammer and Ramos appear together. Following the meeting, the activist responded on her Facebook profile with a short message of gratitude: “Thank you Mike Hammer”.
Leticia Ramos was denied entry to Cuba on February 9th when she attempted to return from Miami, where she had traveled with a humanitarian visa to address a health issue. Upon arriving at José Martí International Airport in Havana, the immigration authorities denied her entry without providing any explanations and forced her to return to the United States.
Ramos left the Island on March 21, 2025, and does not have legal residency in the United States. According to his statement after being returned, his intention was to return to live in his country. “At no point during my visits to the United States has my intention been to stay because my struggle is in Cuba. To arrive in my country and not be allowed to pass… I was traveling with my mom, and they didn’t even let me give her a kiss,” he expressed upon his arrival in Miami.
Days later, she reiterated her decision to return to the Island in another Facebook post: “I want to return to my country and I will do everything possible to make it happen. Enough of injustice, enough of so much cruelty. They will not stop me from my right as a Cuban living in Cuba to return”.
The case also raised concerns at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which on February 18 expressed on its official networks: "IACHR expresses its concern over the measures that prevent the return to the country of defender Leticia Ramos Herrería, a member of Damas de Blanco and a beneficiary of precautionary measures from the IACHR."
The Commission urges the State to guarantee the right of the defender to return and to cease practices that violate freedom of movement and the rights of those who defend human rights
After the denial of entry became known, Cuban-American Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart also publicly expressed his views on his official account:
Leticia Ramos Herrería, leader of the Ladies in White in Cárdenas, Matanzas, and a brave pro-democracy activist, was prevented from entering her own country by the regime in Cuba and forced to return to the United States.
"This is what the corrupt, cruel, and murderous dictatorship does to its own citizens when they dare to speak the truth."
Díaz-Balart had previously met with Ramos, as shown in a post from April 14, 2025, where he expressed: “It has been an honor and a privilege to meet today with Leticia Ramos Herrería, leader of the Damas de Blanco in Cárdenas, Matanzas, and a brave opponent of the criminal Castro regime. Leticia faces the regime's repressive enforcers with courage and determination, defending the human rights of the Cuban people. Throughout decades of struggle, she has endured multiple beatings and arrests, simply for demanding freedom for political prisoners and respect for human rights. Leticia is a symbol of courage and perseverance in the fight for Cuba's freedom.”
The public statement from the U.S. Embassy adds a diplomatic component to the case, while the IACHR frames it as a violation of the right to return to one's own country and of the freedom of movement.
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