José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez

José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez trained at Havana’s Raúl Roa García institute and joined Cuba’s foreign ministry in 1984. He worked on North American affairs, served in Ottawa, and held the ambassadorship in Austria from 2001 to 2005. His Havana responsibilities included consular affairs, relations with Cubans abroad, and service as a deputy foreign minister. Earlier, he had worked as an assistant to Jorge Bolaños. ^{1, 2}

Cabañas took charge of the Cuban Interests Section in 2012. He addressed American academic and policy audiences, arguing for cooperation on migration, drug trafficking, tropical diseases, and environmental problems. In a 2013 interview, he also defended Cuba’s economic reforms and criticized the American embargo and immigration policies. His public advocacy accompanied the official negotiations that eventually restored diplomatic relations. ^{1, 2}

When the interests section became an embassy in 2015, Cabañas became Cuba’s first ambassador to the United States in more than half a century. He remained through the deterioration of bilateral relations during Donald Trump’s first administration and concluded his Washington service in 2020. ³

After his diplomatic career, Cabañas became director of Havana’s Research Centre for International Policy. His published work has continued to address relations with the United States, drawing on postings in North America, Europe, and multilateral institutions. ⁴