Wayne S. Smith, diplomat who resigned over U.S. policy toward Cuba, dies at 91

He invited controversy with his outspoken advocacy of restoring normal relations between the countries.

By Matt Schudel
July 7, 2024 at 10:54 a.m. EDT



Wayne S. Smith in 2005 speaking to Cuban Americans in Miami who opposed the U.S. embargo against Cuba. (Alan Diaz/AP)

Wayne S. Smith, an American envoy in Cuba when Fidel Castro took control of the island nation in 1959 and who returned to a diplomatic post in Havana two decades later, only to resign in opposition to the U.S. embargo and other punitive measures against Cuba, died June 28 at his home in New Orleans. He was 91.

He had complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said his daughter, Melinda Smith Ulloa.

Mr. Smith was an idiosyncratic blend of blunt-spoken Texan and diplomatic finesse who became one of the country’s leading authorities on Cuba during his 25-year career with the State Department. He was first assigned to Cuba, just 90 miles from Key West, Fla., in 1958.

U.S. Embassy staff members were shaking off their New Year’s Eve hangovers early on Jan. 1, 1959, when Cuba’s strongman president, Fulgencio Batista, fled the country as Castro’s forces closed in on Havana.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/07/07/wayne-smith-cuba-dies/

(The article states Wayne Smith was in Havana when former President Obama re-opened diplomatic relations with Cuba. You may recall Obama also visited Cuba with his family, as had former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn during George W. Bush's pResidency.)