Trump administration report links Cuba to US left-wing groups

The Trump administration has issued a 100-page State Department report accusing Cuba of exerting ideological influence on left-wing activism in the United States. The document matters because it places domestic advocacy groups inside Washington’s broader confrontation with Havana, while critics say it relies on weak associations rather than direct proof.

According to Al Jazeera, the report was released Monday and uses Cold War-era framing to describe Cuba’s communist government as an internal threat to the US and its interests. It argues that Havana seeks to undermine the US through political ideas, alliances and movements rather than conventional power.

The State Department names the Democratic Socialists of America as the most prominent US group in a section on organizations it describes as “front groups” and sympathizers. The report acknowledges that DSA is not a Cuban asset, according to Al Jazeera, but says the group’s politics reflect Havana’s interests.

DSA describes itself as an organization that seeks to build worker power through democratic means. The State Department report characterizes the group as increasingly influential in electoral politics and within the Democratic coalition, according to Al Jazeera.

The report also focuses on Code Pink, an antiwar organization that recently joined a humanitarian delegation to Cuba. It points to one of the group’s donors as a US citizen living in China, Al Jazeera reported.

Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin rejected the administration’s claims in comments to Al Jazeera, saying the group “will not be intimidated.” She compared the report’s language to McCarthy-era accusations against left-wing activists and said it was tied to a wider effort to restrict protest activity in the US.

Report cites Assata Shakur and Mamdani

The State Department document also invokes Assata Shakur, the Black liberation activist convicted in New Jersey in 1977 of killing a police officer. Shakur later fled to Cuba, received asylum there and maintained her innocence, according to Al Jazeera.

The report argues that Cuba used Shakur’s presence to build influence in Black and left-wing political circles, including groups connected to Black Lives Matter. It cites politicians who praised Shakur after her death in exile last year.

Among those named is New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. According to Al Jazeera, the report says Mamdani declined during his 2025 campaign to denounce a Democratic Socialists of America tribute to Shakur. Mamdani said at the time that he was focused on affordability and reducing living costs for New Yorkers.

Historian disputes Cuba influence claim

Antoni Kapcia, an emeritus professor of Latin American history at the University of Nottingham, told Al Jazeera he was surprised to see the report cite an article he wrote for Jacobin. Kapcia said his argument concerned anti-colonial movements in the Global South during the 1960s, not a Cuban effort to subvert the US.

Kapcia told Al Jazeera the claim that Cuba is sponsoring left-wing groups in the US is “complete nonsense.” He said Cuba’s support for leftist movements abroad was strongest in the 1960s, when the island faced severe US-imposed isolation, and was not a consistent strategy over time.

Critics see escalation against Havana

Al Jazeera described the report as part of a broader Trump administration push against Cuba. It noted that after US forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, Washington ordered Venezuela’s new authorities to stop fuel shipments to Cuba, worsening the island’s humanitarian crisis.

In May, US authorities indicted former Cuban politician Raul Castro, now 95, over the 1996 downing of two planes that killed four people. Havana has said the aircraft crossed into Cuban airspace without authorization, according to Al Jazeera.

Kapcia told Al Jazeera the report appeared to prepare the ground for possible intervention, though he said Trump was unlikely to launch a military campaign because Cuba has limited strategic value and antiwar sentiment in the US has grown. Benjamin told Al Jazeera she believed the administration was laying groundwork for an invasion and regime change.

The State Department report says Cuba’s poverty should not be mistaken for harmlessness and describes the island as a link among anti-US forces tied to Moscow, Beijing and Tehran. Benjamin told Al Jazeera that portraying Cuba as a threat was absurd, while Republican Representative Carlos Gimenez posted on X, “Cuba is next.”

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.