Top U.S. Official Decries 'Harassment' Of Official In Cuba, Warns Those Involved: 'We Know Who They Are'

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau decried the "harassment" of the U.S.'s top diplomatic official in Cuba, issuing a warning to those involved in such activities.

Landau was responding to a social media publication from early February in which Charge D'Áffairs Michael Hammer was met by several protestors.

Landau said that the people who took part in the incident and others of the kind are "small groups of agents of the Cuban regime."

"I want those people to understand that we know who they are, and will respond accordingly with, among other things, visa sanctions. Under basic norms of international law, diplomats must be free to perform their duties free of harassment by thugs," Landau added.

Other U.S. authorities had reacted to the developments earlier this month. Concretely, the Bureau of Western Affairs said its diplomats "will continue to meet with the Cuban people despite the regime's failed intimidation tactics.

Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar also reacted, saying she stands with Hammer after "the cowardly mob ambush ordered by the Cuban dictatorship."

"These so-called "acts of repudiation" are state-directed political attacks carried out by the regime's repressive machinery. A dictatorship that needs mobs to survive is a dictatorship in its final phase. The United States will not allow state-sponsored terror against a U.S. diplomat to be normalized. They are playing with fire," she added.

The incident took place as tensions between Washington and Havana run high, especially after an executive order signed by Trump imposing tariffs on goods from countries selling or providing oil to the beleaguered Caribbean country.

Hammer has also made headlines after saying this week that Washington is in talks with senior figures inside the Cuban government and suggested a Trump-friendly successor comparable to Venezuela's interim president has been identified, pointing to what he described as the start of a political transition on the island.

In an interview with Telemundo in Miami, Mike Hammer said there are ongoing contacts with high-level officials in Havana, adding that not all members of the ruling structure are aware of them. "Obviously there are conversations with some very high within the regime. Others will not be aware," he said. Hammer added that Cuba has "a Delcy Rodríguez," referring to Venezuela's interim president, but declined to give a name.