The head of mission of the Embassy of the United States in Cuba, Mike Hammer, met this week with members of the youth collective Fuera de la Caja Cuba and content creator Anna Bensi, in a meeting that the diplomatic representation shared on its social media along with the hashtags #FreeEl4Tico and #ConCubanosDeAPie.
The embassy described the meeting as follows: "Our diplomats and Mike met with young people who firmly believe in their right to freedom of expression, such as Fuera de la Caja Cuba and Anna Bensi, to learn more about their hopes for Cuba. The youth will determine the future of the country."
During the meeting, Hammer informed the young people that he had recently been in Miami with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that he had mentioned the upcoming meeting to him. "On behalf of Washington, I met with Secretary Rubio, I told him we were going to meet, so he sends his regards and encouragement,” said the diplomat.
Hammer also reaffirmed Washington's commitment to the freedom of Cubans on the island: "The interest of the United States is that all Cubans, especially everyday Cubans, can live here with peace and freedom." He concluded with a direct message: "Know that you always have friends at the United States embassy, here in Cuba, here in Havana."
Fuera de la Caja Cuba is a collective that emerged in January 2026 in the Cerro municipality of Havana, composed of Karel Daniel Hernández Bosques, Amanda Beatriz Andrés Navarro, Abel Alejandro Andrés Navarro, and Mauro Reigos Pérez, all around twenty years old. The group uses art, theater, and videos on social media to critique the Cuban political system, recognizable by their red hats with the slogan "Make Cuba Great Again."
Since February 2026, State Security has intensified harassment against the collective: home visits by undercover agents, threats to family members, disabling of phones by ETECSA, and hacking of WhatsApp accounts. On April 25, they summoned the mother of one of its members to warn her about potential prison sentences if the group continued to publish critical content.
Anna Bensi (Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente), 21 years old and residing in Alamar, Havana, was placed under house arrest along with her mother on March 26, accused under Article 393 of the Cuban Penal Code for "acts against personal and family privacy, one's own image and voice," with possible penalties ranging from two to five years. Amnesty International documented her case in April and called for an end to the repression.
Hammer had already visited Anna Bensi and her mother in Alamar on April 9, when they were under house arrest, and described their only "crime" as "defending their beliefs, their faith." The activist herself had publicly stated: "They can imprison people, but not ideas."
The hashtag #FreeEl4Tico included in the post refers to Kamil Zayas Pérez and Ernesto Ricardo Medina, members of the audiovisual project El 4tico, detained in Holguín and charged with "instigation to commit a crime" and "propaganda against the constitutional order."
This policy of direct diplomacy with Cuban civil society aligns with Secretary Rubio's stance, who maintains a maximum pressure approach against the regime. Cuba recorded one of the highest rates of political prisoners in the hemisphere in 2026, with hundreds detained since the protests on July 11, 2021. Hammer had already made his position clear in February before the Cuban diaspora in Madrid: "Change in Cuba will happen."
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