Trump Hits Cuba With New Sanctions; Rubio Warns Of Havana’s Foreign Influence Ops

The Trump administration’s Cuba pressure campaign accelerated this past week, with Trump signing an executive order Friday that broadens U.S. sanctions against Havana and opens the door to severe penalties on foreign firms operating key nodes in the Cuban economy. On top of this, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a very interesting comment, as if he or his staffers had read our late-2025 note titled “Is There A ‘Cuba Connection’ Behind The Radicalization Of America’s Nonprofit Left?”

Let’s begin with the next round of U.S. sanctions that target the communist regime, more specifically, individuals, entities, affiliates, officials, and supporters linked to Cuba’s security apparatus, corruption, or serious human rights abuses. It also authorizes secondary sanctions against parties that conduct or facilitate transactions with sanctioned targets, as this can only be viewed as maximum pressure against the Havana communists ramping up. 

Reuters quoted Jeremy Paner, a former sanctions investigator at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, who said the next round of sanctions was the most significant on non-U.S. companies since the U.S. embargo against Cuba began decades ago. 

“Oil and gas, mining companies, and ‌banks that have carefully segregated their Cuba operations from the United States are no longer protected,” said Paner, who now works for law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Reuters also quoted that Trump’s order contained an implicit warning to Cuba, accusing the Cuban communists of being in cahoots with Iran and militant groups like Hezbollah. 

“Cuba provides a permissive environment for hostile foreign intelligence, military, and terrorist operations less than 100 miles from the American homeland,” one official said.

Also, this week, Rubio told Fox News that Cuban communists are a national security threat because they had “rolled out the welcome mat to adversaries” of the US.

“We are not going to have a foreign military or intelligence or security apparatus operating with impunity 90 miles off the shores of the United States,” Rubio said. “That’s not going to happen under President Trump.”

“We are not going to have a foreign military or intelligence or security apparatus operating with impunity 90 miles off the shores of the United States,” Secretary Rubio said about Cuba. “That’s not going to happen under President Trump.” pic.twitter.com/BjGaVtc7I7

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) April 28, 2026

Rubio’s warning about foreign influence operations emanating from the communist island has been on our radar for months, particularly given the long-running pattern of U.S.-based left-wing NGOs and Democratic Party figures praising, visiting, or engaging with Havana-linked communist networks.

That is why, in late December, we asked a very simple question: Is There A “Cuba Connection” Behind The Radicalization Of America’s Nonprofit Left?

In that note, we documented the weird obsession among certain U.S.-based left-wing NGOs and Democratic-aligned politicians with traveling to Cuba for revolutionary workshops. The big question was whether this represents more than activist tourism, and whether foreign ideological grooming has helped shape the current messaging from the Democratic Party today that embraces anti-American rhetoric, rejects capitalism, and openly calls for socialist revolution. 

Miami Herald reported…

Democratic Socialists of America openly touting their visit…

Last week, we were honored to send a delegation of 40 DSA elected leaders & rank-and-file members from chapters big & small across the country to #Cuba, where they delivered hundreds of pounds of solidarity aid & learned about the achievements & challenges of Cuban socialism. pic.twitter.com/SD1hul0PB7

— DSA (@DemSocialists) October 20, 2025

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass …

Did You Know:

Karen Bass got her start in politics in the Venceremos Brigade, a Marxist front group in the US funded by Cuba

She traveled to Cuba many times

The Venceremos Brigade directly spawned domestic terror groups the Weather Underground and May 19th Org pic.twitter.com/Pno87kL50S

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 25, 2025

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez …

WATCH: Washington Post Reporter Says Democrats Won’t ‘Go Hard’ On Cuba Because They Agree With The Regime https://t.co/O8tP3Wb17a pic.twitter.com/tV2Uk9B9h3

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 19, 2021

Neville Roy Singham (China-based) linked CodePink …

Medea Benjamin from CodePink is simping for Cuba again.

CodePink participates in the trips to Cuba, Venceremos Brigade, through the National Network of Cuba alongside other organizations including:

Communist Party USA
Armed Queers SLC (Ermiya Fanaeian)
Democratic Socialists… pic.twitter.com/MoBQQKUSeA

— Patriot Source Network (@PSPod25) January 30, 2026

The list goes on and on…

These Cuba trips are run through ICAP, a shadowy Cuban intel front, and the Venceremos Brigade. Since 1970, at least 744 delegations have brought U.S. activists to Havana for a crash course in communist collaboration. Cuba used to be a proxy for the Soviets but lately it’s… pic.twitter.com/n4QePQ99UE

— Peter Schweizer (@peterschweizer) September 16, 2025

And again.

MAJOR BREAKING 2: The 2025 May Day trip of SLC Armed Queers to Cuba: “Well, if we’re terrorists, we’re proud to be terrorists”

I’ve obtained a now-deleted video.

In it, Ermiya Fanaeian and an unidentified man named Connor talk openly about:

Palestinian students at… pic.twitter.com/CBkStDYjEO

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) September 16, 2025

Elizabeth Warren embracing SLC head … 

So here is @senwarren with the head of the Salt Lake City Armed Queers (she/her). Let’s see what a few hours of tracing lobby fund flows will reveal next. https://t.co/8TaLE0e4QA

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 17, 2025

ICAP (the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples) sits at the center, functioning as a coordinating hub. Orbiting it is the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), a deliberately loose coalition that links 77 organizations, including activists, nonprofits, and campaigns, while minimizing legal exposure and avoiding clear command structures. The National Lawyers Guild serves as the lawfare and agitation arm, training protesters, facilitating delegations, and litigating against U.S. institutions under the guise of civil rights.

Funding and infrastructure come from the Neville Roy Singham Network, a web of organizations linked to Chinese Communist Party-aligned capital that provides money, logistics, and professionalized organizing capacity. Public narratives are amplified by legacy anti-war organizations like CODEPINK and the ANSWER Coalition, which are also now under the Singham umbrella. They frame U.S. foreign policy as illegitimate while defending authoritarian adversaries. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) functions as the political activation channel, translating activist energy into electoral and legislative influence on behalf of the Cuban regime.

The chart that likely got the attention of Rubio:

As per The Washington Times, “Cuba’s intelligence apparatus is training foreign nationals to wage war against the West.”

What war looks like in the information domain:

Here is the roadmap to Charlie Kirk’s assassination… pic.twitter.com/S4JPbPiFy8

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 12, 2025

Comments from Rubio this week suggest that Cuba is no longer just about sanctions, crude oil flows, or a decaying communist regime 90 miles from Florida. The Trump team appears to understand that the Havana communists have an active hostile influence node, one allegedly tied to foreign influence operations reaching deep into America’s left-wing NGO world and deep within the Democratic Party.

Remember when Democrats screamed “Russia, Russia, Russia” over a fake dossier? Well, the tables are about to turn, and now it’s going to be about radicalization in the Democratic Party and clear links to communists and also chaos …

Unhinged left-wing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for “maximum warfare” last week, but his party is about to see it.