Armando Florez-Ibarra

Armando Florez-Ibarra was the Cuban chargé d’affaires who received the American notification breaking diplomatic and consular relations on January 3, 1961. Edwin Vallon summoned him to the State Department after President Dwight Eisenhower decided to end relations in response to Havana’s demand for a drastic reduction in American embassy personnel. ¹

Florez-Ibarra subsequently represented Cuba in Czechoslovakia. He was married to the pianist Ivette Hernández. In 1968, while travelling abroad with their family, the couple decided not to return to Cuba and spent time in Spain. He ultimately settled in the United States and became an American citizen in 1979. ^{2, 3, 4}

He died in October 2013. His son Sergio’s effort to obtain government records about his diplomatic career led to a federal freedom of information case. In 2016, an appeals court sent the case back for consideration of newly released FBI documents. The decision established the relevance of those disclosures; it did not establish that Florez-Ibarra had worked for the CIA. ⁴