Mike Hammer meets with the Alliance of Evangelical Churches in Cuba and describes the meeting as "very fruitful."

The head of the United States Diplomatic Mission in Havana, Mike Hammer, visited the headquarters of the Methodist Bishop in Havana this Thursday and held a meeting with members of the Alliance of Evangelical Churches in Cuba (AIEC), focused on the humanitarian situation in the island and the role of congregations in supporting the population.

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba reported on the meeting through its official account on the social media platform X: "We visited the Methodist Bishop's office and had a very fruitful meeting with members of the Alliance of Evangelical Churches in Cuba regarding the humanitarian situation on the island and the efforts of evangelical churches to support everyday Cubans."

The published images show Hammer alongside a group of approximately ten people in a room featuring a mural displaying a map of Cuba with markers in dozens of cities and the symbol of the United Methodist Church.

The AIEC was founded in June 2019 by seven denominations —the Western and Eastern Baptist Conventions, the Methodist Church, the Assemblies of God, Buenas Nuevas, Evangelical Bethel, and the Evangelical League of Cuba— as an independent alternative to the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC), which is perceived as aligned with the regime. The alliance comprises nearly one million evangelicals on the island.

The Methodist Church in Cuba, one of the founding denominations of the AIEC and whose bishop is Ricardo Pereira Díaz, has approximately 10,000 members, 100 pastors, and 320 congregations, and has been a part of the World Council of Churches since 1968.

Evangelical churches operate in a restrictive environment: more than 80% of local congregations lack legal status, as the regime only recognizes those registered before 1962. Despite this, they have taken on an increasingly prominent role in providing direct assistance to the population amidst the worst humanitarian crisis Cuba has faced in decades, with power outages of up to 20 hours a day, inflation exceeding 20%, and an economic contraction of 1.5% recorded in 2025.

This visit is part of an intensive agenda for Hammer during March 2026, which has included a meeting with independent journalist Camila Acosta on March 20, a meeting with Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar from 14ymedio on March 18 — which he reached by climbing 14 floors on foot during a blackout — his attendance at Mass at the Church of the Virgen de Regla on March 15 to pray for the release of political prisoners, and a visit to the convent of the Servants of Mary on March 14.

Hammer has publicly stated repeatedly that "the dictatorship will come to an end" in 2026, arguing that the current crisis is qualitatively different from the Special Period of the 1990s because the regime no longer has the support of Venezuelan oil. "The Cuban revolution has failed", he asserted in an interview with Telemundo on February 11, 2026.