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Mike Hammer, chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Cuba, participated this Tuesday in the 2026 Chiefs of Mission Conference, held at the SOUTHCOM headquarters in Doral, Florida, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Francis L. Donovan, commander of that military command.
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba confirmed Hammer's presence at the meeting with a brief statement on its social media: "Our mission chief Mike Hammer participated in the meeting of mission chiefs from the Western Hemisphere at Southern Command, where he, along with Secretary Rubio and General Frank Donovan, discussed U.S. priorities in our region."
The meeting, scheduled from May 5 to 7 under the theme "Peace through Strength," brings together heads of diplomatic missions from across Latin America and the Caribbean with senior military officials and government representatives from the United States.
The stated purpose of the forum is "to advance the objectives of the National Security Strategy in the hemisphere, including collaborative efforts to combat narcoterrorism and prevent adversaries from gaining a foothold in the region."
In March, Hammer met individually with General Donovan in Miami to specifically discuss the Cuban situation. Just a few weeks prior, in statements to Telemundo, the diplomat had asserted that "there will be a change in 2026" in Cuba, that "the dictatorship will come to an end," and that "the Cuban revolution has failed."
Cuba was symbolically present even before the conference began this Tuesday: SOUTHCOM released a photograph of Rubio shaking hands with General Donovan in front of a prominent reference map of the island at the key meeting of Southern Command.
Later, after being questioned by a journalist in the White House press room, Rubio explained why he posed in front of the map: "Cuba is in Southern Command; you know it's the closest part. Our ambassadors were all across the Western Hemisphere. I met with the general who just took command of Southern Command, and behind me was a map of Cuba, and I thought it would be good to take a photo in front of that map. Because it's the closest to the United States in Southern Command."
From the podium of the press conference -in which he replaced the press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave- the Secretary of State delivered a direct message against the regime: "The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist. And that is what we have: incompetent communists running that country." He also warned that "things are going to change."
Rubio, who advances the U.S. strategy to curb threats in the hemisphere, has held the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor since April, a concentration of power that, according to TIME magazine, was previously held only by Henry Kissinger.
This Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated in an interview that "it would be an honor to free Cuba" and once again mentioned the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the Cuban coast, a threat that the president continues to pose over the island amid the escalating pressure.
Since January 2026, the administration has accumulated more than 240 sanctions against the regime and intercepted at least seven oil tankers.
On May 1, Trump signed a new executive order against the dictatorship that expands restrictions in the energy, defense, mining, and finance sectors, with secondary sanctions on foreign banks that deal with sanctioned Cuban entities.
The result on the island is devastating for the population: a reduction of between 80% and 90% in energy imports and blackouts of up to 25 consecutive hours in more than 55% of Cuban territory.
The regime responds with confrontational rhetoric. On May 2, before representatives from 36 countries attending an international solidarity meeting with Cuba in Havana, President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned about "the imminence of a military aggression" from the U.S. and invoked the doctrine of the "War of the Whole People," stating that "every Cuban man and woman has a rifle".
Secretary of State Rubio is scheduled to travel to the Vatican on May 7 to meet with Pope Leo XIV, with Cuba also on the agenda for that meeting.
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