Herman Portocarero is a lawyer, writer and former European Union diplomat. He is the author of 22 books, most based on his experiences serving in Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. He concluded his diplomatic career as the E.U. ambassador to Cuba, an experience that forms the backdrop to his non-fiction Havana Without Makeup: Inside the Soul of the City, published in 2017. He resides between homes in New York and Cadiz, Spain.