State Department Names Liberal American Activists and Officials in Report Detailing Extensive Spying Campaign by Cuba

The Trump administration is accusing Cuba of mounting a decades-long influence campaign that has penetrated the highest levels of the American government, backed left-wing extremism on American soil, and cultivated a global network of activists to undermine Western democracy.In a sweeping 99-page report titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” the State Department says Cuba has had “remarkable success” in infiltrating U.S. institutions, and has influenced “a disproportionate share of America’s most famous and influential extremist movements” with the goal of turning “America against itself.” “The Cuban campaign against America is unique. It is irregular and covert — even at the peak of its military power, Havana never possessed the capacity to defeat the United States in a conventional armed conflict. Instead, the Cubans perfected a new model for a long war of attrition, organized around espionage, infiltration, sabotage, proxy networks, and a revolutionary infrastructure designed to turn America against itself,” the report reads.The report — announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba and who is a longtime critic of Havana’s communist government — also alleges that Havana backed “an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism on American soil.”The report lands against a backdrop of mounting American pressure on Cuba. Washington has effectively imposed an oil embargo on the island, issued sanctions against key state-run companies, and indicted former president Raúl Castro. Mr. Trump reinstated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism on his first day back in office in 2025 — reversing an Obama-era détente that had sought to normalize relations after more than half a century of hostility. Mr. Trump has since signaled that Cuba could face the same fate as Venezuela, whose president Nicolás Maduro was arrested by U.S. forces earlier this year.Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, swiftly dismissed the report in a post on X. “The latest fallacy from the U.S. Department of State against Cuba forms part of the construction, by the Secretary of State, of a pretext for sustaining its cruel and criminal economic war that punishes every Cuban family, and its aspiration to militarily aggress Cuba, for which it desperately seeks the support of U.S. citizens,” he wrote. “It is further evidence of the macabre plan designed by that U.S. politician from South Florida, who only satisfies the interests of those who have always paid him.”Among the figures explicitly named in the report is Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, whom the report identifies as a former “leading” organizer for the Venceremos Brigade — a group that has arranged trips to Cuba for American and international activists beginning in 1969 through today, hosting a group in Cuba as recently as January to express solidarity for the ruling party and the Palestinian cause. Citing a 1996 interview, the report notes that Ms. Bass at one point in her early career traveled to Cuba as frequently as every six months. “Over the past half century, programs like the Brigade have helped Cuba infiltrate and establish a foothold in a series of radical American political movements,” the report reads. “Increasingly, its reach has also extended to mainstream liberal institutions — elite academia, major nonprofits and NGOs, and even the Democratic Party itself.” Among those mainstreamed were Bernadette Dohrn and William Ayers, who had a strong influence on President Obama during his college years at the University of Chicago and remained a friend throughout his career.Ms. Bass has previously said her trips had a humanitarian focus, building houses and touring healthcare facilities, and that her ties to the brigade have been overstated. When Cuba’s Communist leader Fidel Castro died in 2016, Ms. Bass issued a statement describing his passing as “a great loss to the people of Cuba.” She later walked back those remarks, telling Fox News that Castro’s government “was a brutal regime” and that she “would not do that again, for sure.”The report also targets a raft of left-wing figures, including political commentator Hasan Piker, Amazon union leader Christian Smalls, environmental activist Isra Hirsi, who is the daughter of Squad member and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and the Democratic Socialists of America. “This constant stream of Western left-wing activists, influencers, and organizers is coordinated by a network of Cuba-backed nonprofits, foundations, academic and cultural partnerships, and even dedicated U.S.-based travel agencies,” the report reads.The DSA, the report reads, “maintains a fierce, almost religious commitment to the cause of the Cuban regime — not because the group is controlled by Cuban agents, per se, but because that commitment is now simply the de facto policy orthodoxy on the American far left.”American critics of the report have compared it to 1950s-era McCarthyism, when then-Senator Joseph McCarthy held hearings to call out alleged communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers in Hollywood, universities, the military, and the U.S. government. “This 100-page McCarthyism fan fiction tries to explain away 60+ years of failed U.S. policy toward Cuba,” wrote Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson, an Illinois Democrat serving on the House Foreign Relations Committee. “Sanctions haven’t delivered democracy—they’ve delivered hardship. End the collective punishment now. Americans do not want cruelty carried out in their names,” he added.

State Department Names Liberal American Activists and Officials in Report Detailing Extensive Spying Campaign by Cuba

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