Related videos:
Mike Hammer, mission chief of the United States Embassy in Cuba, met this Tuesday with Father José Conrado Rodríguez Alegre, a Cuban Catholic priest known for his activism in defense of human rights and his open criticism of the regime, who traveled from Trinidad specifically for the meeting.
On his official account on X, Hammer described the meeting as "an honor and a pleasure, as always," and noted that the priest came "to share his concerns and aspirations for everyday Cubans". "He is a strong voice that reflects his love for the homeland," wrote the diplomat.
It is not the first time that they have met. On February 1, Hammer visited the priest at the San Francisco de Paula church in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus province, as part of a tour across Cuban provinces. After that meeting, the diplomat wrote: "I am inspired every time I talk to him."
That visit in February was not without tensions. A group of regime supporters shouted insults at Hammer as he left the church in Trinidad, and that same night a second act of repudiation was organized when the diplomat arrived in Camagüey.
The Father José Conrado, born in San Luis, Oriente, in 1951, has been the parish priest in Trinidad since 1997 and is regarded as one of the most critical Catholic priests of the Cuban regime.
Over the decades, he has sent open letters to Fidel Castro (1994), Raúl Castro (2009), Vladimir Putin (2022), and Pope Francis (2022), denouncing repression, human rights violations, and the silence of the Church in the face of the dictatorship.
In June 2024, he signed a letter along with two other priests requesting "urgent reforms" in Cuba.
This second meeting takes place days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican to coordinate the expansion of humanitarian aid to Cuba channeled exclusively through the Catholic Church, avoiding the regime.
After the meeting with His Holiness, Rubio revealed that the U.S. has offered 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid to Cuba but the regime refuses to distribute it. Additionally, he announced 9 million dollars in extra aid for victims of Hurricane Melissa, which would benefit 24,000 people in eastern Cuba, along with the 6 million already sent in February through Cáritas Cuba.
Washington's strategy of relying on the Cuban Catholic Church —both its hierarchy and dissenting priests like Father Conrado— as a channel for humanitarian aid and political pressure on the regime sets the context for this series of meetings.
In February, Hammer also met with the opposition figure Manuel Cuesta Morúa and with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, consolidating a diplomacy that combines direct contact with civil society and coordination with the Church.
Hammer himself summarized his vision in front of more than a hundred Cubans in Madrid on February 18: «The change in Cuba is not a possibility; it is a certainty».
Filed under: