Cuba: U.S. diplomat joined demonstrators

Cuba’s state news agency is reporting that Lowell Dale Lawton, an official at the U.S. interests section in Havana, joined a protest march by the womens’ opposition group Ladies in White yesterday. The Miami Herald‘s Cuba Colada blog translates the report:  The American diplomat mingled with the demonstrators and walked with them the length of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Cuba's state news agency is reporting that Lowell Dale Lawton, an official at the U.S. interests section in Havana, joined a protest march by the womens' opposition group Ladies in White yesterday. The Miami Herald's Cuba Colada blog translates the report

Cuba’s state news agency is reporting that Lowell Dale Lawton, an official at the U.S. interests section in Havana, joined a protest march by the womens’ opposition group Ladies in White yesterday. The Miami Herald‘s Cuba Colada blog translates the report

The American diplomat mingled with the demonstrators and walked with them the length of the provocation, which was spontaneously rejected by the local people," Prensa Latina said.

On Tuesday, the agency said, two other diplomats – one German, the other Czech – took part in a similar street protest "in open collaboration with the petty counter-revolutionary groups organized and funded by the United States and some European nations.

"These actions of provocation in Cuba, with the presence of diplomats from the United States and western European countries, take place amid a media campaign against the island that intensified on March 10, when the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning alleged human rights violations," Prensa Latina concluded.

Police used force to break up the march by Ladies in White, an organization of the female relatives of political prisoners. 

Lawton, along with the German and Czech diplomats were reportedly shown on television participating in the March.  It does seem unusual that a U.S. diplomatic employee would participate in a political demonstration, but if the reports are true, it would seem to be a sign that U.S. officials aren’t backing down from supporting Cuban civil society groups after the arrest of USAID contractor Alan Gross

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.