And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles, with your

host, David Axelrod.

Three times in his career as a State Department diplomat, Jeffrey De Laurentis has been stationed

in Havana, Cuba, the latest as our de facto ambassador to Cuba amid these historic changes

in the relationship between the United States and that country.

I had a chance on a visit to Havana with the Institute of Politics to sit down with the

ambassador and talk about how Cuba has changed and what the change in U.S. policy will mean

to both countries.

Are you now in one of the most consequential postings for the country because of the changes

that we're going through here?

But it's probably not something that you would have imagined at the beginning of your career.

Talk a little bit about how you got to this point and your life in this world.

Sure.

Well, first of all, I would say it's a privilege to be in this position now as we're trying

to forge this new relationship between the United States.

And Cuba in a way, it feels like it's something I'm prepared for from the beginning of my

career, not frankly by design, but just because I started my career here in Cuba in 1991.

I had thought about entering the Foreign Service with visions of Prague and Budapest and Berlin

dancing in my head and lo and behold, they sent me to that.

You studied for this.

You went to your college and your post.

Yes, I went to the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and I did a graduate degree at the

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