U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis will serve as chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba starting next July, according to a statement issued by the State Department.
DeLaurentis will replace John Caulfield, who began his mission as head of the diplomatic mission in Havana in 2011, after serving as charge d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Caracas.
The State Department spokeswoman, Susan E. Bridenstine, said Jeffrey DeLaurentis is a prominent member of the U.S. Foreign Service, and spoke of his performance as deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State. She also referred to his work as U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs of the United Nations since 2011.
In 1991 DeLaurentis was named bureau chief of political and economic affairs of the U.S. Interests Section on the island and remained in Cuba until 1993. He returned in 1999, during the presidency of Bill Clinton, and became again head of political and economic affairs.
DeLaurentis was also Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and Director of Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council.
He graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
