The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

40 JUNE 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL I also made it a rule never to personally insult or deni- grate Fidel Castro. After all, if I incurred his enmity I would no longer be able to effectively represent my country. I was honored to be the eighth principal officer sent to Havana after President Jimmy Carter reopened diplomatic relations in 1977, and both gov- ernments opened interests sections in their former embassies, which had been closed since 1961. President Bill Clinton and his advis- ers selected me to lead the U.S. Interests Section in 1999 with the expectation that my years of experience working on Cuba equipped me to improve relations. I had been deputy director and subsequently director of the Office of Cuban Affairs at the State Department from 1989 to 1993. I had also been an ambassador to Madagas- car, so we hoped that title might indicate that we were serious about change. We also knew that Fidel preferred to deal with women. But just two months after my arrival in Havana in September 1999, the miraculous rescue of a 6-year-old child in the Florida Straits put our countries on a collision course. The Elian Gonzalez Saga Fleeing Cuba in an unseaworthy boat, Elian Gonzalez’s mother had tied him to an inner tube before losing her own life. Days later, he was rescued by a fisherman, taken to a Miami hospital by the Coast Guard, and then turned over to relatives who, despite his father’s pleas, refused to return him to his family in Cardenas, Cuba. Over the next six months, the Elian saga dominated U.S.-Cuban relations, as Fidel and Raul Castro led “million man” marches demanding Elian’s immediate return. When a State Department spokes- man said that the United States would hold Cuba responsible for the safety of its personnel in Havana, Fidel sent schoolchil- dren arrayed in their Pioneer uniforms to “protect” us. Hand in hand they surrounded the Interests Section, making the United States look like a help- less giant. Next, in just three months Castro turned the overgrown and neglected area in front of the chancery into a giant outdoor Soon after my arrival in Havana, the miraculous rescue of a 6-year-old child in the Florida Straits put our countries on a collision course. Vicki Huddleston, at right, and other U.S. diplomats on a balcony of the U.S. Interests Section that overlooks the “Jose Marti Open Court,”a huge outdoor amphitheater used for political rallies, five floors below. This photo was taken on June 29, 2001, when 30,000 Cubans led by President Fidel Castro rallied to protest the jailing of five Cuban agents in Florida on spying-related charges. Reuters/Rafael Perez/Hulton Archive