The head of mission at the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, strengthened his diplomatic agenda concerning the island during a visit to Mexico City, where he met with Todd Wilcox, Under Secretary for Diplomatic Security at the State Department, and Ron Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, in addition to participating in a regional forum on security and investment.
Hammer attended the OSAC Americas & Energy Fall 2026 Summit, held on September 21 and 22 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Mexico City. The event, organized by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) of the Department of State, brought together diplomats, corporate security executives, and investors to discuss security and investment challenges in the region.
During the meeting, the diplomat starred in the discussion “A Fireside Chat on Cuba” —a dialogue about Cuba— alongside representatives from the Diplomatic Security Service of the Department of State. The program also included a panel on the risk landscape for Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and the Eastern Caribbean.
After his participation, the United States Embassy in Cuba reported on its social media that Hammer "found a lot of interest in the situation in Cuba and expectations for change to occur."
The trip to Mexico is part of a diplomatic agenda that Hammer has maintained since his arrival in Cuba in November 2024, characterized by an unusual active public diplomacy style in the context of the island.
In February 2026, the head of the mission took a tour of Madrid and Rome where he called for support for a "peaceful and swift" transition and stated that "the future of Cuba will be decided by Cubans".
In May, he participated in the Commander’s Conference of the Southern Command in Doral, Florida, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Francis L. Donovan, commander of SOUTHCOM, in a meeting that received extensive international coverage.
Days before the trip to Mexico, Hammer was in Santa Clara and Villa Clara supervising the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid and meeting with change advocates, including activist Coco Fariñas.
This aid is part of the 100 million dollars that Washington offered to Cuba, channeled through the Catholic Church, Caritas, and independent non-governmental organizations, without any involvement from the Cuban government.
The context of this diplomatic agenda became more complex following the revelation by CBS News regarding an internal memorandum from the United States Army that inquired about the availability of six types of military units —military police brigades, engineering battalions, medical brigades, among others— for Southern Command within a timeframe of 90 to 120 days, as part of planning related to Cuba.
The memo did not mention Cuba by name nor did it order any deployment, but multiple officials confirmed to CBS that it was related to planning concerning the island.
Analysts point out that the profile of the consulted units —logistics, engineering, military police, and medical support— is more aligned with humanitarian assistance or stabilization operations than with conventional offensive military actions.
While it cannot be stated that Hammer is explicitly building a network of actors for "the day after," his diplomatic agenda—international trips, meetings with military leaders, encounters with Cuban civil society, and participation in security forums—reveals an agenda that blends international contacts, meetings with security and defense officials, and engagements with representatives of Cuban civil society at a time of increasing attention from Washington regarding the situation on the island
The president Donald Trump stated on Friday that “Cuba is failing miserably” and that the United States “wants to open Cuba to our people.”
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