• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 04 / 16 / 2011

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Jonathan D. Farrar will be leaving the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to become ambassador in Nicaragua, the White House announced.

No announcement has been made as to who will replace him.

Farrar, who assumed his post in 2008, produced some diplomatic openings during the first part of his tenure in Havana. The most public achievement of Farrar’s detente efforts was a reception in his residence in October 2008 that included the cream of the crop of Cuban culture.  The celebrities came because Farrar had not invited any of the dissidents the Interests Section typically includes in every event. However, the conflicts surrounding the imprisonment of a USAID subcontractor and U.S. support for activities of opposition bloggers brought back tensions.

As part of a recent wave of verbal attacks in official Cuban media against U.S. activities, Granma described Farrar as a “promoter of counter-revolutionary subversion.”

Source: www.cubastandard.com/2011/04/15/u-s-interests-section-chief-leaving/