The head of mission at the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, held a virtual meeting this Tuesday with Rear Admiral Adam A. Chamie, commander of the Seventh District of the Coast Guard, to discuss the situation on the island and address national security requirements, according to a post by the embassy on X.
The official message from the embassy specified that both officials "discussed the necessary requirements to protect the national security of the United States." The video call included at least a third participant identified as personnel from the Coast Guard.
This is not the first contact between Hammer and Chamie. The first documented meeting between the two was in person on May 6th, during the Conference of Chiefs of Mission of the Western Hemisphere held at the headquarters of Southern Command in Doral, Florida, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Francis L. Donovan also participated.
The Seventh Coast Guard District, commanded by Chamie, has jurisdiction over the Florida Strait and the Caribbean, and oversees Operation Vigilant Sentry, the Department of Homeland Security initiative focused on the interdiction of irregular migration by sea.
The meeting takes place just five days after Rubio issued a strong warning to the Cuban regime: "The United States will not tolerate a pariah state hosting military, intelligence, and terrorist operations hostile to our country," declared the Secretary of State on August 6 while announcing sanctions against five Cuban entities and eight officials linked to Havana's military cooperation with Russia and China.
The fear of a massive exodus from Cuba represents another central axis of this coordination. In March, the Southern Command prepared contingency plans in anticipation of a potential collapse on the island, including the use of the Guantanamo Naval Base as a processing point for migrants.
General Donovan confirmed it before the Senate: "Whether by sea or land, primarily at Guantánamo Naval Base, where we will set up camp to deal with those migrants."
That concern was reinforced in May by former CIA director Robert Gates, who warned that the greatest security risk Cuba poses to Washington is not military, but the possibility of a collapse that could trigger mass migration: "The biggest risk is that we could end up with another Mariel-type evacuation from Cuba, with tens of thousands of Cubans heading to the United States out of desperation."
Tuesday's meeting is part of a consistent pattern of engagement between Hammer and the U.S. defense and security apparatus.
Since taking office in November 2024, the head of the mission has met several times with officials from the Southern Command and the Coast Guard, including a visit to the Coast Guard command in Miami in August 2025 to discuss the prevention of irregular migration by sea.
Since 2022, more than 850,000 Cubans have left the island in the largest migratory wave in the country's recent history, a figure that makes the Florida Straits one of the points of highest operational focus for U.S. national security.
Related videos:
Filed under: