The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2014 39 Even in hostile environments, FSOs effectively represent U.S. interests through open communication. Here is one case study. BY V I CK I J . HUDDL ESTON I t would be an understatement to say that my three years (1999-2002) as principal officer of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana were full of ups and downs. At one point, Fidel Castro threatened to designate me persona non grata for distributing AM/FM/shortwave radios. Yet some years later Ricardo Alarcon, then president of the Cuban National Assembly, told a forum of American, Canadian and Cuban scholars that I had done a good job there. And while I became the darling of Miami’s Cuban-American community for strongly defending the country’s internal human rights groups, they sharply criticized me for my role in resolving the Elian Gonzalez saga. What my various critics either didn’t see, or didn’t accept, was that I consistently sought to cultivate a professional relationship of trust and respect throughout my time in Havana, even when our bilateral relations were in conflict. Admittedly, it helped that I liked everything about Cuba: the people, the place and the officials with whom I dealt. But even if I hadn’t enjoyed my time there, I had no doubt that my job was to represent the interests of my government through open, continuous communication and compromise. Toward that end, I accepted the Cuban government as legiti- mate. After all, it is a voting member of the United Nations. And more governments have diplomatic representatives resident in Havana, a leader of the developing world, than in Mexico City or Brasilia. FEATURE Vicki J. Huddleston, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer, is currently chief of party of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Local Enterprise and Value Chain Enhancement Project, which builds jobs and capacity in Haiti’s private sector. Prior to that, she was deputy as- sistant secretary of Defense for African affairs from 2009 through 2011. Highlights of her Foreign Service career (1976-2005) include assign- ments as a deputy assistant secretary of State for Africa (1997-1999); ambassador to Madagascar (1995-1997) and to Mali (2002-2005); and principal officer of the U.S. interests section in Havana (1999- 2002). Ambassador Huddleston was also a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-director of the Brookings Project on U.S. Policy toward a Cuba in Transition from 2007 to 2009. OURWOMAN INHAVANA