What the U.S. Says Cuba Is Doing in America: A Simple Explainer

Photo: ERNESTO MASTRASCUSA / POOL/AFP via Getty Images

What Is This All About?

Imagine two neighbors who don’t trust each other. The U.S. government just shared a big report (like a school book report, but about another country) saying that Cuba has been trying to stir up trouble inside the United States for a very long time.

Here is the super simple version:

• The U.S. State Department (the team that handles relationships with other countries) is publishing a report on Monday.
• The report says Cuba is encouraging left-wing extremism (think of very far-left political anger and action) inside the U.S.
• It also says Cuba built a sneaky network of spying and persuasion to weaken U.S. interests.

What the Report Claims Cuba Has Done

A State Department official said the report found that for almost 70 years, Cuba’s leaders have helped almost every big far-left uprising, revolution, and militant group in and around the Americas.

At a meeting with officials from over 60 countries about far-left extremism, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said:

• Cuba’s big spy and idea-spreading networks helped build the far-left in the U.S. and the hemisphere.
• Cuba is still tied to far-left groups far and wide.

Why Is the U.S. Publishing This Now?

The U.S. government is turning up the heat on Cuba to make economic and political changes.

• In May, President Donald Trump signed an order adding more penalties (sanctions) on Cuba.
• He said Cuba is an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. security.
• Cuban officials strongly say Cuba is NOT a threat to the U.S.

Important Point: The report says Cuba’s weak economy (a “failed state” economy) hides one of the best foreign spy and influence operations in modern history. But the report uses public info only—it does not reveal anything brand new.

The Report’s Main Ideas, Made Easy

The 64-page document (seen early by the Miami Herald) says:

• Cuba tried to export guerrilla movements (small armies fighting the government) and its own version of Marxism (a political idea based on shared property and workers’ power).
• Cuba’s version is built on “a fundamental hatred of the United States” and aims for a hemispheric Marxist revolution—a revolution against the West itself.
• Cuba made friends with far-left groups as part of a long “war of attrition” (slow wearing-down) to “erase the United States from the Earth.”

What makes Cuba special and hard to understand, the report says, is that it mixes spying with “soft” influence (like ideas and friendships).

• Other unfriendly countries might steal secrets, fund terrorism, give weapons, spread lies, or buy political friends.
• Cuba does ALL of those—and does not separate them the way the U.S. government usually does.

Though Cuba spies well, the report says its bigger win is on the ideas battlefront (changing how people think).

Cuba and a Big Anti-U.S. Team

The report puts Cuba at the center of a broader anti-American coalition that includes:

• Russia
• China
• Iran
• Domestic far-left organizations

It calls Havana (Cuba’s capital) “the ideological capital of the modern radical left.”

The report even says many big U.S. upheavals—like the George Floyd protests, the rise of Antifa, and pro-terrorist activism on college campuses—can be linked in some way to Cuban influence.

U.S. Groups the Report Names

The report details Cuba’s history of bonding with Black radical activists and lists several U.S. far-left groups that traveled to Cuba, aligned ideas, and built cozy relationships with the Cuban government:

• Code Pink
• The People’s Forum
• The National Network on Cuba
• Democratic Socialists of America

These groups have also joined pro-Palestinian and anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) protests. The U.S. sees this as a sign of Cuba’s influence in shaking up U.S. politics.

A special document by the National Network on Cuba called the National Rapid Response Plan says if the U.S. attacks Cuba, they will protest at federal buildings, military bases, and ICE facilities. The plan says protesting ICE connects “Cuba solidarity to anti-ICE/immigrant defense work happening nationwide.”

The “Nuestra America Flotilla” Trip

Last March, several American and international far-left groups and influencers went to Cuba on a trip publicized as the “Nuestra America flotilla.”

• The trip was coordinated with Cuban authorities, especially the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples and its travel agency Amistur.
• The institute is led by Fernando Gonzalez Llort, a convicted Cuban spy who spent 15 years in a U.S. prison for the Wasp Network in the 1990s.

Last month, the State Department sanctioned (penalized) the institute and Amistur for helping Cuban intelligence. It also ended the legal status of Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, a former institute official accused of ties to a “transnational communist subversion network.” He and his family were detained in New York on June 26.

The U.S. statement says the institute spreads anti-American propaganda, cultivates pro-Cuba activists and politicians, and lobbies politicians on Cuba’s behalf.

Cuba Spying Inside the U.S. Government

The report says Cuba tried hard to sneak into the U.S. government. It names famous Cuba spies caught by U.S. intelligence:

• Victor Manuel Rocha (former U.S. Ambassador)
• Ana Belén Montes (senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency)
• Walter Kendall Myers (former State Department analyst)

The report says: “Cuba created one of the most sophisticated and adept espionage and subversion operations in the world – almost singularly focused on penetrating and undermining the United States.”

It argues Cuba’s Directorate of Intelligence is “far more skilled and sophisticated” than the Soviet KGB ever was. Cuba spies not just for politics but to hand info to rivals like Russia, China, and Iran.

How Cuba Recruits Spies

Cuba’s intelligence thinks in decades (very long term). Usually, they recruit Americans who already believe in Cuba’s ideas instead of paying for secrets.

The spy agency:

1. Targets promising students and activists before they have power.
2. Develops them patiently over time.
3. Steers them into universities, government agencies, diplomatic jobs, intelligence posts, or influential civil groups.

Important Point: That integrated approach is the bridge between Cuba’s spy service and its much wider political network.

Summary

In short, the U.S. State Department says Cuba has spent decades building a mix of spy operations and idea-spreading to weaken the U.S. and support far-left movements at home and abroad. The report uses only public sources, names specific groups and trips, and comes as the U.S. increases pressure on Cuba. Cuban officials deny they are a threat.

FAQ

1. What is the State Department report about?
It is a 64-page public report saying Cuba encourages left-wing extremism in the U.S. and runs a sophisticated spy and influence network against U.S. interests.

2. Does the report share new secret information?
No. It uses public sources and does not make new disclosures about Cuba’s activities.

3. Why does the U.S. say Cuba is a threat now?
The administration is increasing pressure on Cuba for reforms and expanded sanctions in May, calling Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat. Cuba denies this.

4. What is the “National Rapid Response Plan”?
It is a document by the National Network on Cuba outlining nationwide protests at federal buildings, military bases, and ICE facilities if the U.S. takes military action against Cuba.

5. Who is Fernando Gonzalez Llort?
He is a convicted Cuban spy who led the Wasp Network, served 15 years in U.S. prison, and now heads the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples involved in the flotilla trip.