Chargé d’affaires ad interim Mike Hammer, the United States’ top diplomat in Havana, visited the Cuban city of Matanzas this week and called for the liberation of unjustly detained Cuban artists while state officials closely followed and recorded him.
Hammer has led the United States’ diplomatic mission in Havana since November 2024, serving as its chargé d’affaires. The United States has not appointed an ambassador to Cuba in over six decades after the communist Castro regime forcefully took control of the island-nation. It restored the presence of a representative at the embassy, however, under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
Hammer has infuriated the Castro regime this year by launching a tour of the island nation, visiting major cities and meeting with local communities, citizens, dissidents, and families of the regime’s political prisoners. Hammer said that he has received a warm reception from Cubans.
The Castro regime claims Hammer is engaging in “meddling and unfriendly conduct” through his actions and has accused him of being a “subversive agent” of the United States for engaging in regular diplomatic behavior, such as promoting his own country and meeting with local communities. In June, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío told the Spanish news agency EFE that the Castro regime does not rule out expelling Hammer but has yet to act upon that threat at press time.
Although the Castro regime has not expelled Hammer for his alleged “subversive” actions, the ruling communists appear to have dedicated extensive efforts to disrupt the U.S. embassy’s diplomatic events. In July, the Castro regime launched a repressive operation against journalists, activists, and dissidents that the U.S. embassy invited to its Fourth of July celebrations. To prevent those targeted from participating, the Castro regime had some of the invitees unjustly arrested, placed under house arrest or surveillance, and banned some from traveling to Havana.
On Thursday, the United States embassy in Havana published a video of Hammer’s recent visit to the city of Matanzas, the regional capital of Matanzas province, where he met with several artists. Hammer said on social media, “Art allows us to appreciate the soul of a country, but only if artists are able to express themselves freely.” He called for the liberation of all Cuban artists unjustly detained by the Castro regime as political prisoners.
Towards the end of the roughly one-minute video, footage of Cuban state officials conducting surveillance on Hammer appears. The regime officials, dressed in civilian clothing, used their phones to take pictures and record Hammer during his visit to Matanzas.
In the post, Hammer mentioned Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Osorbo, and Jessica Torres Calvo, three Cuban artists detained by the ruling communists. Hours after the video was published, the embassy clarified in a follow-up post that Torres Calvo had already been “ex-carcerated,” a term widely used by the Castro regime that does not translate into a full release.
Cuban human rights organizations have denounced that “ex-carcerated” individuals are subjected to another level of persecution in Cuba and are highly restricted from freely working, studying, or living a normal life.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, mentioned by Hammer in his post, is a 37-year-old performance artist and a leading figure of the San Isidro Movement, a pro-democracy artistic collective. Otero Alcántara was unjustly detained by the Castro regime during the historic July 2021 nationwide wave of anti-communists protests and was sentenced to five years in prison for “public disorder, contempt, and insult to national symbols.”
Friends and family of the Cuban artists denounced to Martí Noticias on Thursday that they have not heard of Otero Alcántara since last week and fear for his life. Yanelys Núñez, an exiled Cuban artist and a founder of the San Isidro Movement, warned Martí Noticias that Otero Alcántara was ill and had a “fungal infection on his skin” when the group last spoke with the imprisoned artist. Otero Alcántara is reportedly imprisoned at the Guanajay prison, located in the province of Artemisa.
Maykel Osorbo is a 42-year-old rapper, two-time Latin Grammy winner and one of the co-authors of “Patria y Vida” (“Homeland and Life”), a song and slogan prominent during the July 2021 anti-communist protests. Osorbo is presently serving a nine-year prison sentence on “contempt,” “assault,” and “public disorder” charges.
The independent outlet 14 y Medio reported on Thursday that Castro regime officials abruptly prohibited a scheduled visit by Osorbo’s daughter, who recently turned ten years old, despite the visit having been already approved.
According to the outlet, Osorbo could barely yell, “My girl, I love you. Be strong like your dad. Everything will be okay,” to his daughter, who cried in front of the prison officials — none of which reportedly intervened to facilitate the encounter.
Jessica Torres Calvo is a Holguin-based graffiti artist, tattoo artist, and model. According to the Cuban human rights advocacy group Prisoners Defender, Torres Calvo was also arrested during the July 2021 protests and sentenced to ten years on “sedition” charges.
Torres Calvo was “ex-carcerated” in January as part of a broader group released by the Castro regime through negotiations that featured the intervention of the Vatican. In return, former U.S. President Joe Biden, during the last days of his administration, had Cuba removed from the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism (SST). President Donald Trump reinstated Cuba on the SST list during the first hours of his new administration.
According to the outlet ADN Cuba, only three Cuban artists — including Torres Calvo — were among the group of individuals “ex-carcerated” in January. At the time, the outlet detailed, at least 17 Cuban artists remained among the communist regime’s more than 1,000 political prisoners.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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