From his office high above Havana, Jeffrey DeLaurentis has a sweeping view of the cerulean Florida Straits and the blood-red letters declaring Cuba's defiance of the United States.

"Homeland or Death!" reads the sign erected in front of the US interests section built 15 years ago, when DeLaurentis was a junior officer working to defuse a standoff over the fate of Elian Gonzalez, a boy whose raft voyage to the US sparked international controversy.

Now on this third assignment in Cuba, DeLaurentis is the top US diplomat on the island, working to bring an end to more than a half-century of hostilities between the two countries. Known for his low-key style and public discretion, the 61-year-old diplomat is on a shortlist of candidates for US ambassador to Cuba, if there is to be one.