Rubio Targets Cuban Influence Network, Sanctions Group Linked to Left-Wing Activists

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced new sanctions against a prominent Cuban organization with longstanding ties to American activist groups, continuing the Trump administration’s effort to confront a decades-old communist influence network operating inside the United States.

The sanctions target the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, known as ICAP, an organization founded by Fidel Castro in 1960 to promote support for Cuba’s communist revolution and cultivate relationships with political activists around the world.

“For decades, Cuba has been the world capital for radical left-wing terrorism,” Rubio said.

“The regime in Havana has recruited, trained and backed violent Marxist and third-worldist movements across our hemisphere and beyond,” he added.

Officials have long viewed ICAP as a key component of Cuba’s intelligence and influence apparatus. A declassified CIA report identified the organization as one of the Cuban government’s primary tools for cultivating sympathetic political movements abroad and expanding Havana’s influence beyond the island.

The sanctions come amid growing scrutiny of a network of American activist organizations that have worked closely with ICAP and received substantial financial backing from Neville Roy Singham, a Marxist technology entrepreneur living in Shanghai.

According to reports, Singham has directed approximately $285 million since 2017 to nonprofit organizations that maintain close relationships with Cuba’s communist government and ICAP.

Among the groups identified as working with ICAP are the People’s Forum, CodePink, BreakThrough News and Tricontinental.

Rubio said the administration is focused not only on the Cuban government itself but also on organizations that help facilitate and expand its influence.

“Today, we are targeting the network that enables and funds Cuba’s subversive and radical operations,” Rubio said.

Earlier this year, ICAP worked with several U.S. nonprofits to organize a March convoy to Cuba that included political streamer Hasan Piker. The trip was intended to demonstrate support for Cuba’s Communist Party.

The excursion has since attracted federal attention. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin confirmed she received inquiries from federal officials investigating whether sanctions laws may have been violated.

Federal investigators are also examining a network of approximately 145 organizations with combined revenues of roughly $1 billion that allegedly promote Cuba’s political agenda and communist ideology in the United States.

ICAP is currently led by Fernando González Llort, one of the so-called “Cuban Five,” a group of former Cuban intelligence officers convicted in the United States on espionage-related charges before later being released.

The sanctions designate ICAP as one of five Cuban entities now barred under authorities established by President Donald Trump’s Cuba executive order.

The other sanctioned entities include Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Minera La Victoria S.A., and the state-run tourism company Amistur Cuba S.A.

Amistur has reportedly coordinated travel to Cuba for U.S.-based organizations connected to Singham’s network.

The Cuban government condemned Rubio’s actions shortly after the sanctions were announced.