Key Allegations
The Trump administration released a report on Monday alleging that Cuba is supporting an anti‑American network of left‑wing activism in the United States, including the Democratic Socialists of America, in order to strengthen its case for U.S. intervention in Cuba.
Donald Trump, President of the United States, and Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, attend a press conference at the NATO Summit at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye, on July 8, 2026. (Photo by Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
The report, titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” revisits Cold War‑era tensions between the two nations and portrays Cuba as a persistent ideological threat to the United States.
According to the State Department, Cuba has established a far‑reaching revolutionary network that has influenced many of the United States’ most prominent extremist movements, and it continues to maintain connections with influential left‑leaning nonprofits, anti‑ICE collectives, socialist groups, and Marxist militant organizations throughout the country.
The report references several prominent progressive organizations in the United States that are at odds with the Trump administration.
The report notes that Black Lives Matter leaders aligned with the Cuban government during the 2021 anti‑government protests, issuing a statement urging the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba, a move criticized for not holding the Cuban authorities accountable for the economic hardships faced by its citizens.
The report repeatedly references the Democratic Socialists of America, a progressive group that has achieved recent electoral successes such as the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and notes its advocacy for normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba.
The report coincides with the Trump administration’s renewed focus on destabilizing the Cuban regime and tightening economic pressure through an oil blockade. In a recent Fox News interview, President Trump warned that “a lot will happen in Cuba over the coming months,” while suggesting the situation would not mirror the U.S. takeover of Venezuela, which he described as richer in natural resources.
Crucial Quote
The report alleges that many of the most significant recent upheavals in American political history—including the George Floyd riots, the rise of Antifa, and the surge of pro‑terrorist activism on U.S. college campuses—are in some way linked to Cuban influence, describing Havana as “the ideological capital of the modern radical left.”
Chief Critic
Michael Bustamante, a professor of Cuban and Cuban American studies at the University of Miami and author of “Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile,” tweeted that he needed more time to review the report, describing its claims as highly questionable and echoing the Cuban government’s narrative that internal dissent is merely a foreign plot. He called the analysis selective and frustrating.
Key Background
In March, Trump declared “Cuba is next” in a Miami speech, following the success of the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, and indicated he favored a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. The administration has intensified economic pressure by halting oil shipments from Venezuela—the primary supplier—after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and by threatening sanctions against any nation that provides oil to Cuba. The resulting shortage of fuel and investment in Cuba’s energy infrastructure has led to repeated power‑grid failures.
