‘Front groups and fellow travelers’: state department attacks US left over Cuba

As part of the Trump administration’s continuing attack on left-leaning groups, the US state department has listed several activists and organizations as “front groups and fellow travelers” for Cuba, including Hasan Piker and Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls.In a 100-page report released on Monday, the state department denounces Cuba as the “capital of 21st-century Communism”, accusing the Cuban government of carrying out a “campaign of subversion” that has “infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists [and] backed an unprecedented wave of leftwing terrorism on American soil”.The state department report alleges that the so-called campaign is “designed to turn America against itself” and singles out several left-leaning activists and organizations, including the Democratic Socialists of America, Isra Hirsi – the daughter of Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar – New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, and journalist Amy Goodman, citing their criticism of US policy toward Cuba or participation in Cuba solidarity movements.Describing the DSA, of which Mamdani is a member, the report says the organization “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”. It accuses the DSA of maintaining 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”.Trump has doubled down on similar messaging in recent days, using the term Communism at political rallies and presidential engagements alike.For more than 60 years, the US has maintained a sweeping economic embargo on Cuba, in addition to crippling sanctions imposed by numerous administrations. Despite US claims that its policies are designed to pressure the Cuban government, Havana and many international critics including human rights organizations say they have severely hurt the island’s economy.The report comes just days after the state department, led by Marco Rubio – the son of Cuban immigrants and one of the US’s most outspoken critics of Cuba’s communist government – imposed further sanctions on the country, targeting its tourism ministry and several state-owned companies.The sanctions come as part of the Trump administration’s “comprehensive push to end the Cuban regime’s malign activities, both in Cuba and across our hemisphere”.Rubio has long advocated for “maximum pressure” toward Havana, arguing that easing US sanctions only strengthens Cuba’s communist government. Throughout his political career including his time as a senator, Rubio has backed tighter economic restrictions and repeatedly accused the Cuban authorities of repressing political dissent and fueling violence across the region.Earlier this month, Cuba suffered its third nationwide blackout in six months amid an oil blockade imposed by Trump on the island of 9.6 million people, prompting many residents to say that “living like this is agony”.