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Staff photo. Notice: No pets were harmed during the writing of this blog post.

Washington, Apr 24 -

President Obama's announcement last week easing travel and remittance restrictions towards Cuba was front page news.  Far less noticed was a report that U.S. diplomats posted at the U.S. Interests Section on the communist island are continually harassed by the Cuban government, even including the poisoning of family pets.  According to the report, written in 2007 but released only this month by the State Department's Inspector General, "life in Havana is life with a government that 'let's you know it's hostile'" (The Hill: "State Dept: Cuba poisoning diplomats' pets").  A report from a few years ago in the Miami Herald ("Diplomats in Cuba wary of snoops and snubs") goes into shocking detail inappropriate for this space.

This isn't the first case of diplomats around the world being harassed and certainly won't be the last.  In some countries, when they want to give a foreigner the business, they slow down their visa application, or maybe ask a couple more questions then necessary.  The Cubans have taken this type of diplomatic game to a whole new level.  I guess this isn’t surprising coming from a totalitarian state with a horrendous human rights record.  It certainly makes you wonder if someone who poisons Spot will reciprocate the Administration's olive branch in any meaningful way.