SLP, Mexico.- The United States Embassy in Havana announced that Mike Hammer fHe has been appointed as the new Head of Mission of the diplomatic headquarters.
Hammerwith a history of more than 35 years of diplomatic career, assumed his position this Thursday, November 14, as confirmed by the consular representation on its home page.
According to the data presented in the social networks From the Embassy, the official has served as ambassador to Chile and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, worked as special envoy for the Horn of Africa, and has been in key positions in the State Department and the White House.
Born in Washington DC, Hammer grew up in Latin America: he lived in Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil and speaks fluent Spanish.
He graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and earned master’s degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the National War College at the National Defense University.
While serving as Undersecretary of Public Relations of the United States Department of State, Mike Hammer said, following the death of opposition leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, that the Cuban government should, “in the interest of all, conduct a thorough investigation” into the circumstances under which he died, as reported at that time Martí News.
Hammer also highlighted Payá’s courage in his fight for human rights and for a democratic future in Cuba. “It is a great loss and we honor his memory,” he added.
Previously, the experienced diplomat Benjamín G. Ziff had been Head of Mission in Havana.
The former head had previously served as Director of the Migration Working Group of the Western Hemisphere Office of the State Department, where he had the responsibility of coordinating the Department’s hemispheric migration policy and strategy, the Embassy highlighted when summarizing his biography.
Ziff came to the position in Havana after being appointed a senior fellow at the State Department for the German Marshall Fund (GMF) of the United States, where he worked on US-European relations and restoring the transatlantic relationship. .
Previously, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Office of European Affairs, responsible for relations with the Nordic and Baltic countries and the Department’s European public diplomacy efforts.
