A new State Department report on Cuba’s “campaign of subversion against the United States” is a virtual government blacklist against left-wing Americans and groups. Linked to last week’s Rubio-led summit on “political terrorism,” the report is unusually candid about the government’s targets.
“Many of the most significant upheavals in recent American political history — from the George Floyd riots to the rise of Antifa to the explosion of pro-terrorist activism on American college campuses — can be linked, in some way, shape, or form, to Cuban influence,” the report says.
As for who these supposed agents of Cuban influence are, the report is remarkably explicit. It names people like Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame), Mayors Zohran Mamdani and Karen Bass, media figures like Amy Goodman and Hasan Piker, and organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America and the Amazon Labor Union.
The implication is clear: Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks there should be a modern-day blacklist of the political left in America. In fact, the report explicitly mentions the “blacklists, McCarthy-era investigations and prosecutions” of the 1950s and their effectiveness at dismembering the Communist Party USA.
The 100-page report, titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” was released this morning.
An entire section of the report — numbering over three pages long — is dedicated to the Democratic Socialists of America.
“The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) serves as a particularly potent illustration of the ideological victory of Cuba’s effort to position itself as the spiritual capital of Third Worldist Radicalism,” the report says. “This represents a significant advance for the Cuban influence operation: Havana no longer needs to rely solely on intelligence penetration or asset cultivation to exert influence over the United States.”
Though the report concedes that “DSA was not shaped by the direct and tangible influence of the Cuban government” and that it has “organic ideological commitments,” it insists that “None of that is to say that the group has no ties to the Cuban regime and its influence network.”
Instead, the report points to the group’s delegations to Cuba as evidence of Cuban influence.
“For more than six decades, the Cuban regime has been the leading sponsor of radical leftism and Third Worldism in the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a 𝕏post on X/Twitter linking to the report.
Whatever you think of DSA, it is hardly fringe. It claims as members prominent politicians like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and has helped to nominate dozens of politicians like him to office in recent years. Senator Bernie Sanders identifies as a Democratic Socialist — having himself popularized the term — as do Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who are card carrying members (as well as Mamdani).
The Cuba report follows last week’s Rubio-led international summit on “political terrorism.” That summit, as I reported, introduced the new term “Far-Left Terrorism” (abbreviated “FLT”), a term it never really defined.
A White House press release summarizing the event said that “far-left extremism will be treated with the same seriousness and ferocity the world has long reserved for jihadist terrorism.”
Speaking at the summit, Rubio vowed that further new terrorist designations for left-wing groups would be coming “soon.”
Jeremy Lewin, the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Assistance, linked last week’s political terrorism summit to today’s Cuba report, saying on X: “For seven decades, the Cuban regime has been behind both the ideological underpinnings of third worldism and subversive organizing structures of the new radical left political terrorists that @SecRubio called out with clarity last week.”
But virtually all the summit could do to substantiate the supposed scourge of political terrorism was to focus on groups that are almost comically dated — like the 70’s era Symbionese Liberation Army or the Weather Underground. The summit was vague about what are the equivalent groups today.
Today’s Cuba report, however, “names names,” in an obvious attempt to stigmatize American citizens who are very much politically active today.
In some cases these are even sitting politicians, from congresswoman Maxine Waters to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
I read the 100-page report and counted references to at least 43 contemporary American groups and individuals, which the report identifies as follows:
**Adely, Suzanne:**The president of the National Lawyers Guild who participated in the Nuestra América Convoy and who, the report notes, praised Venezuela’s 2024 elections.**Amazon Labor Union:**A labor union founded by Christian Smalls that participated in the 2026 Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba.**Antifa:A decentralized group of self-described “Anti-fascist” political activistsAssata’s Daughters:**A Chicago-based Black Lives Matter abolitionist offshoot that trains young activists in the radical spirit of Assata Shakur.**Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees (AIPAC):**A California-based umbrella nonprofit that funds left-wing media and delegations to Cuba and Venezuela.**Bass, Karen:**The current Mayor of Los Angeles and former Congresswoman who was a Venceremos Brigade organizer in the 1970s.**Benjamin, Medea (Susan Benjamin):**A co-founder of Code Pink and Global Exchange who organizes Cuba solidarity efforts.**Black Alliance for Peace:**An activist group that maps U.S. military bases and police training facilities as targets for radical agitation.**Black Lives Matter (BLM) (including Global Network Foundation, Grassroots, and at School):**A sprawling racial justice network whose leaders and offshoots, the report says, have expressed solidarity with Cuban regime and radical figures like Assata Shakur.**Boudin, Chesa:**The former District Attorney of San Francisco and son of Weather Underground member Kathy Boudin.**changingFrequencies:**A Black Queer Feminist-led abolitionist project aiming to disrupt waht it calls the “Medical Industrial Complex”.**Claudia Jones School:**A Washington, D.C.-based organizing collective that conducts popular education and, the report says, pro-Cuba lobbying.**Code Pink: Women for Peace:**A left-wing protest group that describes itself as anti-war and organizes solidarity delegations to Cuba.**Cohen, Ben:**The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s who attended the wedding of Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans.**de la Cruz, Claudia:**The co-founder of the People’s Forum, IFCO executive director, and 2024 presidential candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.**De Los Santos, Manolo:**The co-founder and head of the People’s Forum who the report says maintains deep relationships with Cuban regime elites.**Democratic Socialists of America (DSA):**A major socialist political organization that has organized official delegations to Cuba.**Ensler, Eve (V):**A prominent playwright who attended the wedding of Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans.**Equality for Flatbush:**A Brooklyn-based Black Lives Matter abolitionist group fighting gentrification, police, and ICE.**Evans, Jodie:**The co-founder of Code Pink who married billionaire Neville Roy Singham.**Floyd, George:**A Minneapolis man whose 2020 death sparked nationwide uprisings that the report notes were praised by Cuba.**Garza, Alicia:**The co-founder of Black Lives Matter who credited Assata Shakur as a key influence in her organizing work.**Goodman, Amy:**The host of*Democracy Now!*who the report notes attended the wedding of leftist billionaire Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans.**Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees:**An activist group led by Black women that organizes to defend Black migrants and block deportations.**Hirsi, Isra:**A campus activist and daughter of Ilhan Omar who was suspended from Barnard College for organizing anti-Israel encampments before traveling to Cuba.**IFCO / Pastors for Peace:**An ecumenical foundation that organizes aid caravans to leftist regimes and serves as a fiscal sponsor for numerous radical U.S. groups.**Larudee, Paul:**A U.S. citizen based in San Francisco who serves as the North American coordinator for the pro-Iranian “Resistance Axis” coalition Al-Tajammu.**Mamdani, Zohran:Mayor of New YorkNational Lawyers Guild (NLG):An association of radical lawyers that provides legal defense and “legal observers” for various left-wing groupsNational Network on Cuba (NNOC):**A coalition of over 60 American groups dedicated to lobbying for Cuba and coordinating nationwide direct actions.**Omar, Ilhan:**A Democratic Congresswoman and mother of campus activist Isra Hirsi.**Party for Socialism and Liberation:**A leftist political party that fielded a 2024 presidential candidate and conducts protests.**People’s Forum, The:**An activist hub for anti-ICE and pro-Cuban agitation.**Piker, Hasan:**A streamer and left-wing political commentator who, the report notes, traveled to Cuba to film a documentary and participated in the Nuestra América Convoy.**Pressley, Ayanna:**A Democratic Congresswoman who, the report notes, publicly praised convicted murderer Assata Shakur upon her death.**Singham, Neville Roy:**A Shanghai-based American technology magnate who funds various left-wing activist groups.**Smalls, Christian:**The founder of the Amazon Labor Union who participated in the 2026 Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba.**Thousand Currents:**A progressive nonprofit that served as the fiscal sponsor for the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.**Villaraigosa, Antonio:**A former Mayor of Los Angeles and Speaker of the California Assembly who was a Venceremos Brigade alumnus.**Viva Palestina US:**The American branch of an international network that, the report says, previously provided convoys and funds to Hamas.**Waters, Maxine:**A Democratic Congresswoman who, the report notes, once wrote a letter urging Fidel Castro not to extradite fugitive Assata Shakur.**Wilson, Diane:**A co-founder of Code Pink.**Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective:**An organization that runs recurring solidarity delegations to Cuba.
Guilt by association at its finest. But what exactly are they guilty of?
What the report shows isn’t that any of these people are knowingly taking directions from a foreign power — only that they disagree with the U.S. government on Cuba policy (or at most, agree with Cuba).
Their views can be wrong — aggressively, offensively wrong even — but it’s their goddamn right as Americans to hold them.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
