The head of mission at the United States Embassy in Cuba, Mike Hammer, visited the activist and influencer Anna Bensi at her home in Alamar, Havana, to express Washington's support in the face of the systematic harassment by the Cuban regime.
The U.S. embassy shared the meeting on social media platform X this Wednesday, using the hashtag #ConCubanosDeAPie, accompanied by a message that directly challenged the repressive practices of the government: «Expressing your opinion and belief in God and Christian values is not a crime. Why do state agents not wear uniforms and fear being identified? They and their informants certainly enjoy recording everyone else».
The visit takes place just six days after the People's Municipal Court of Havana East convicted Bensi and her mother, Caridad Silvente, of the crime of "acts against personal and family privacy, one’s own image and voice," as defined in Article 393 of the Cuban Penal Code.
The judge Zamira Marrero Morgado —previously noted for her involvement in cases related to the protests of July 11, 2021— imposed two years of restricted freedom on both individuals, a sentence that does not involve imprisonment but does include judicial monitoring, a prohibition on leaving Cuba, and restrictions on movement.
The origin of the case dates back to March 10th, when Bensi and his mother recorded and posted on social media about a visit from a plainclothes agent of MININT who came to their home to deliver a summons from State Security.
Since then, the harassment has not stopped: in April, counterintelligence agents tried to recruit Bensi as an informant by offering to promote her music career; they hacked her WhatsApp and Telegram accounts and disabled her ETECSA lines; and in July, she was held for nearly 11 hours at a police station where they demanded that she modify her videos and threatened to press charges against her for "incitement to public disorder."
"My tears were of helplessness, of anger," Bensi declared after that arrest.
The sentence generated a wave of international condemnation: the Undersecretary of State Juan Pablo Segura described it as a "cowardice" of the regime, and Congress members Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos Giménez demanded the unconditional release of both.
This Wednesday's visit is not Hammer's first to the young activist. The diplomat had already visited her home on April 9, while both were under house arrest, and he met with her again in May along with young members of the Fuera de la Caja Cuba collective.
This street diplomacy strategy —traveling to provinces, meeting with activists, families of political prisoners, and ordinary citizens— has been Hammer's hallmark since he took over as head of mission in November 2024.
Anna Bensi, whose legal name is Ana Sofía Benítez Silvente, is 21 years old, Christian, and a social media content creator. Her case has been covered by media outlets such as NBC, El País, DW, among others.
The Embassy concluded its message with a direct warning to the regime: «Like other diplomatic missions, we are taking note. A responsible government would put an end to these practices. But in Cuba?».
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