Tag: cuba

Trump: “Cuba’s Next By the Way But Pretend I Didn’t Say That Please… Cuba’s Next.”

President Trump on Friday renewed his threats to invade Cuba while speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Florida.

While speaking about the US’s invasion of Venezuela, where Nicolas Maduro was captured, Trump told the crowd, “Cuba’s next by the way,” before joking that the media should disregard his comments. Then, he doubled down, stating, “Cuba’s next.”

This comes as the Department of Justice is preparing to charge Communist Cuban leaders in cases related to drugs or violence.

Trump has also cut off the flow of oil by threatening tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba through an Executive Order last month.

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Trump: MAGA wants strength, and they want victory. They want success. And that’s what we have, and we have been very, very successful. You know, when I went into Venezuela, I said, “meh,” because I campaigned on the fact, peace through strength, that you wouldn’t have to use it. But I built this great military. I said, You’ll never have to use it, but sometimes you have to use it.

And Cuba’s next, by the way. But pretend I didn’t say that please. Pretend I didn’t say that. Please, please, please, media, please disregard that statement. Thank you very much.

Cuba’s next. So, despite the radical left Democrat shutdown, we will continue to defend the sovereign borders of the United States of America, and we’ll defend our allies, your ally. You didn’t know they were that tough, did you? You didn’t know they were pretty tough, Iran. Not tough anymore. Now, we’ll continue to deport dangerous criminal aliens from our country.

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The Foreign Communist and Leftist Organizations Behind Pro-Cuba Regime Propaganda in the U.S.

The Nuestra América Convoy, composed of American and international leftists that recently delivered aid to the Cuban regime, was a network of at least 23 Marxist, socialist, and anti-American organizations, many with foreign ties and funding, including connections to the Chinese Communist Party.

Several have a documented history of organizing or participating in anti-American protests in the United States, including pro-Hamas demonstrations in Times Square within hours of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, the July 2024 mass-vandalism protest at Washington’s Union Station, “Hands Off Iran” rallies, anti-ICE protests, pro-Maduro demonstrations, and other pro-communist causes.

The convoy’s primary organizing body was Progressive International, a self-described worldwide anti-capitalist organization formally founded in 2020, growing out of a 2018 call by Bernie Sanders’s institute and the Democracy in Europe Movement.

Its manifesto asserts that “capitalism is the virus” that must be eradicated, supports “revolution” to “transform society and reclaim the state,” and warns that “winning elections is not enough.”

The organization dismisses concerns about Chinese military aggression as an “invented narrative” and “anti-China hysteria.”

Its advisory council includes British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, a self-identified socialist who participated in the convoy, and Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek finance minister who describes himself as an “erratic Marxist” or “libertarian Marxist.”

Progressive International co-organized the convoy alongside the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, which a 1978 CIA study prepared for the House Intelligence Committee described as “one of the most useful Communist front organizations at the service of the Soviet Communist Party,” noting its consistent alignment with Moscow’s foreign policy.

National Lawyers Guild president Suzanne Adely participated in a joint Progressive International and IADL delegation to the Palestinian Territories in 2024.

A central organizing and fiscal node for the convoy was the People’s Forum, a New York-based 501(c)(3) whose executive director, Manolo de los Santos, spoke at press conferences in Havana.

De los Santos has spent years in Cuba and built a career organizing protests in New York City. In April 2024, hours before anti-Israel protesters occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, he addressed roughly 100 activists at the People’s Forum’s Manhattan offices, urging them to recreate the “summer of 2020,” a reference to the BLM riots that resulted in $400 million in damage across the country, and to “give Joe Biden a hot summer.”

Isra Hirsi, daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, traveled to Cuba as part of a People’s Forum delegation. She had previously been suspended from Barnard College for participating in a siege of parts of neighboring Columbia University during pro-Hamas protests.

The House Ways and Means Committee stated in a formal letter that the People’s Forum received over $20 million from Neville Roy Singham and his wife, Jodie Evans, between 2017 and 2022 through shell companies and donor-advised funds, and that it has “acted as a foreign agent of the Chinese Communist Party” while maintaining tax-exempt status. Singham, a U.S.-born tech mogul who sold his company for $785 million in 2017, moved to Shanghai and in July 2023 attended a Communist Party workshop on “promoting the party internationally.”

He shares premises with a Chinese propaganda firm whose goal is to “educate foreigners about the miracles that China has created.”

The People’s Forum hosted courses in late 2024 glorifying the Chinese revolution and events with diaspora groups defending the CCP. A George Washington University Program on Extremism report identified the People’s Forum as a key node funding activist groups with anti-U.S. and anti-Israel agendas aligned with China’s global messaging.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley urged an investigation into whether the People’s Forum should register as foreign agents under FARA.

Code Pink, founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, is a 501(c)(3) with a 23-year record of opposing U.S. foreign policy, actively opposing sanctions on Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba, and disrupting congressional hearings including those of Henry Kissinger and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Code Pink chartered a plane for 100 convoy participants, delivered 6,300 pounds of medical supplies valued at $433,000, and charged each participant $1,600 for the trip.

Since 2017, roughly 25 percent of Code Pink’s funding has come from groups connected to Singham, who married co-founder Evans in 2019.

Since that marriage, Evans and Code Pink have, according to Senate Judiciary Committee documents, “stridently supported China,” with Evans publicly describing the Uyghurs as “terrorists” and defending their mass detention.

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Code Pink Commie Karens Exposed Themselves with Luxury ‘Revolution’ Vacation While Cubans Suffer

Television host Greg Gutfeld criticized a group of left-wing activists who traveled to Cuba and stayed in luxury accommodations during a widespread blackout, contrasting their experience with the conditions faced by ordinary Cubans.

Speaking alongside video clips of activists and commentators, Gutfeld described the trip as disconnected from the realities on the island, where residents have faced longstanding shortages and infrastructure issues.

“So far left activists went to Cuba and stayed in five star hotels while the rest of the country had a total blackout. Because nothing says fight the power when no one else has any, and nothing says solidarity, solidarity with the oppressed like maid service and a mint on your pillow,” Gutfeld said.

He added, “It’s their version of MTV spring break. But instead of Carmen Electra, you get Greta Thunberg. The Cuban people are eating rationed rice in the dark, and these clowns are chowing down on $20 Snickers bars.”

Gutfeld continued, “Call it Safari communism Club Med, but red nibbling on ceviche while real Cubans swim past sharks to get to Miami.”

Video shown during the segment included footage of a performance by Irish rap group Kneecap, where fans could be heard chanting, “Free, Free Palestine.”

Gutfeld reacted to the chant, saying, “Well, if those are Irish rappers, they should change their name from kneecap to sucky charms. They chant Free Palestine in a different country where people are rationing beans.”

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It Gets Much Worse: Code Pink’s Cuban Commie Vacation Hits a New Low

On Sunday, I wrote about how Code Pink and a bunch of other worthless commies went to Cuba after they put together the “Nuestra América Convoy,” which describes itself as a humanitarian group but is really just some sort of anti-Trump, pro-Cuban regime operation. Cuba’s “president,” Miguel Díaz-Canel, rolled out the red carpet at a convention center, and then the group stayed in a five-star well-lit hotel. I say “well-lit’ because no one else on the island has power, yet oddly this hotel and convention center do.

The convoy also threw themselves a little concert — again, with plenty of electricity to go around — but this wasn’t some sort of opportunity for them to raise money for the Cuban people they claimed they were heading down to support or anything. It was an opportunity to shout things like “F*ck Trump” and “Free Palestine.” I have no data on this, but I’m guessing most Cubans don’t give two cents about Palestine at the moment. They just want electricity so they can eat, study, have water, and keep their sick relatives alive in hospitals.  

Call it poverty porn. Call it a communist safari or theme park. Call it the poor people petting zoo. I’ve heard every name under the sun from the Cuban exile community here in the United States. The only thing I can think to call it is one of the most grotesque, exploitative spectacles I’ve ever witnessed.  

The Cuban people are starving. They have no power or water and limited medical care. They kids can’t do their schoolwork. The adults can’t make a living wage. People are dying. Life-saving services — like oxygen, dialysis, incubators, and ventilators — are unstable. But these… worthless humans are down there partying like it’s 1959. And believe me, I’m being generous when I say “worthless humans,” but my editors won’t allow me to say what I really want to call them. 

First up is this guy Hasan Piker. I was not familiar with him until he decided to show up in Cuba and not only exploit the situation on the ground there, but broadcast his little podcast or livestream or whatever it is he does from the fancy hotel where he’s staying. I have since learned more about him and not just the fact that if you look up the term “punchable face,” you’ll probably find his picture somewhere.  

The Marxist Piker was born in New Jersey to Turkish parents, but raised as a Muslim in Turkey. He’s 34 years old, he’s a far left influencer, and he has one of the most subscribed-to channels on Twitch. He’s a big Bernie Sanders fan, yet, like his idol, he’s worth millions and just wants socialism for everyone else. He was literally wearing a $700 shirt while he walked the streets. It would take the average working Cuban years to buy something like that.  

He also apparently abuses his dog.

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US Military Not Preparing to Invade Cuba, Senior General Says

The U.S. military is not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba or actively preparing to take over the island, ​the general in charge of American forces in Latin America told lawmakers in Washington on March 19.

Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, said the United States is ready to defend its naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, to address any threats ‌to the U.S. embassy, and to support White House efforts to address any mass migration from the island, if needed.

Asked whether the U.S. is rehearsing military operations ⁠that involve seizing, occupying, or otherwise attempting to control Cuba, Donovan replied, “U.S. Southern Command is not.”

Asked whether he knew of any other U.S. military command doing so, Donovan responded, “No.”

Donovan made his comments during a Senate hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s use of the U.S. military in Latin America, following January’s operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who is charged with narco-terrorism offenses. He denies the charges.

The Trump administration has also launched a series of military strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats while expanding counter-narcotics ​alliances with pro-Washington governments in Latin America.

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As Washington Succeeds in Wrecking Cuba’s Economy, US Media Blame the Victim

The US government’s decades-long economic blockade against Cuba is in many ways not a complicated issue. The policy of restricting trade with the country’s Communist government was put into full force under the Kennedy administration, with the explicit goal of causing enough economic hardship, hunger and desperation to spur regime change.

The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly and consistently voted to end the embargo since a resolution to that effect was first introduced in 1992. Member countries argue that the embargo violates international law. It has cost the country anywhere between $130–170 billion since its inception, and has restricted the Cuban people’s access to food and medicine. And it has not accomplished its primary goal of overthrowing the Cuban government.

These are key points that should be included in any article reporting on Cuba’s economic struggles. However, US journalists have consistently leaned into the US government’s framing of the issue: that the country’s Communist government is largely or exclusively to blame for its financial woes (FAIR.org, 11/4/24).

As the Trump regime tightens the screws of the embargo by further restricting oil access to the country, a move that has been condemned by UN human rights experts as a further violation of international law (New York Times, 2/13/26), legacy media continue to toe the government’s line on the issue, with coverage that is either low on context or outright stenography.

President Donald Trump has tried to justify his administration’s significant escalation in tactics on the basis that Cuba represents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the security of the United States, primarily by supporting US geopolitical enemies. This accusation is not new: The country has previously been accused of hosting both Russian and Chinese spy bases. Despite neither claim being backed by evidence (Belly of the Beast, 2/6/26, 8/1/24), the Trump administration doubled down on them when rolling out its new and harsher set of policies.

But the administration also unveiled a new claim that upped the ante: Cuba has apparently been harboring Hamas and Hezbollah forces, not 90 miles off of our shores! “Cuba welcomes transnational terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas,” reads an executive order from January 29,

creating a safe environment for these malign groups so that these transnational terrorist groups can build economic, cultural and security ties throughout the region, and attempt to destabilize the Western Hemisphere, including the United States.

The administration did not provide evidence to support this claim, and none has surfaced, despite local journalists’ investigative efforts (Belly of the Beast, 2/2/26).

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The Truth About Cuba

Not distracted by the war on Iran, on March 3, President Trump, once again, warned that Cuba was in its “last moments.” The next day, he said, “It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they are down to, as they say, fumes” before admitting that the U.S. has caused a humanitarian disaster in Cuba.

Trump’s rhetoric has continued to escalate. On March 17, Trump said,  “I do believe I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it. They’re a very weakened nation right now.” The Trump administration is reportedly pursuing a policy of removing  President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power while keeping in place his government. They have communicated to Cuba that no deal can be negotiated while he is leader.

The U.S. has cut Cuba off. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has said that he is “extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba” and warned that it “will worsen, if not collapse,” if the U.S. does not ease its chokehold. But as the humanitarian catastrophe unfolds, while the world looks on, there are three enduring American myths about Cuba that need to be dispelled.

The Trump administration has cut Cuba off from its energy lifeline: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!, Trump announced. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” With that threat, Trump declared a “national emergency” and signed an executive order imposing tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. “Now there is going to be a real blockade. Nothing is getting in. No more oil is coming,” the U.S. Charge d’Affairs in the U.S. Embassy in Havana told his staff.

And, with the exception of a trickle of aid from Mexico and the promise of a drop of aid from Canada, nothing is getting in. “There’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything,” Trump boasted. There is no longer enough oil in Cuba to guarantee your car, generator or hot water will run. There is not enough electricity to keep the lights on. Classes have been cancelled at many schools, and many hospitals have cut services. Tourism, the economic lifeblood of Cuba, is drying up. Cuba has announced that international airlines can no longer refuel there due to fuel shortages. On Monday, a “complete disconnection” caused a blackout across all of Cuba.

The American embargo has gotten so successfully out of hand that, after the leaders of Cuba’s Caribbean neighbours expressed alarm over the suffering of Cubans, the U.S. has relented a little and now says it will loosen some restrictions and let some Venezuelan oil into Cuba.

Foundational to the American embargo on Cuba are three myths that need to be undermined: the hostility to Fidel Castro and Cuba has been going on longer than expressed in the official narrative, the hostility was never about communism, and the intent of the embargo has always been to starve the Cuban people.

The hostility toward Cuba stretches back two years and one administration further than told in the official narrative. Though the embargo, the Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose’s determination to assassinate Castro are all attributed to Kennedy, they all need to be deposited in Eisenhower’s foreign policy account.

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Trump Says He’ll Have the “Honor” of “Taking Cuba” – “Whether I Free it, Take it, I Think I Can Do Anything I Want with It”

President Trump on Monday again floated “taking Cuba,” saying he believes he will have the “honor” of doing so. 

During a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that Cuba is “very weakened,” noting that its “very violent” regime has destroyed the country.

“All my life, I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. You know, when will the United States do it?”

This comes as the Department of Justice is preparing to charge Communist Cuban leaders in cases related to drugs or violence.

Cuba also faced a nationwide blackout after Trump cut off the flow of oil by threatening tariffs on any country that provides oil to Cuba through an Executive Order.

Meanwhile,  as The Gateway Pundit recently reported, U.S. Southern Command announced new operations with the Ecuadorian military against narco-terrorists in South America and is still surging troops to the region.

Trump told Fox’s Peter Doocy that Cuba is “talking to us” but declined to say whether he plans to use the military to invade Cuba as he did in Venezuela in January.

“I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now,” he said.

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Cuba’s Electrical Grid Suffers Complete Collapse

Cuba’s electrical grid has suffered a complete collapse as the Trump Administration prepares to take action on the island country.

“Cuba’s electrical grid has suffered a complete and total collapse. This is according to the country’s power operator,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

“It’s the 1st nationwide blackout since the US effectively shut off the flow of oil to Cuba,” she said.

“A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System has occurred. Restoration protocols are beginning to be implemented,” Cuba’s electrical grid provider said on Monday.

President Trump told reporters on Sunday evening that he will finish dealing with Cuba “soon.”

“Cuba’s a failed nation. Cuba also wants to make a deal, and I think we will pretty soon, either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,” Trump told Bloomberg’s Jeff Mason during a gaggle on Air Force One.

“We’re talking to Cuba, but we’re going to do Iran before Cuba,” he said.

“They’ve been waiting 50 years for what’s happening with Cuba. So, I think something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly,” Trump added.

“You know, people have been waiting 50 years to hear this story with Cuba, and when I left Palm Beach today, there were thousands of people in the road. I’m sure you saw them, and they were from Cuba and from Venezuela, all friendly, all friendly, waving the flag and waving the American flag,” he said.

“They’ve been waiting 50 years for what’s happening with Cuba. So, I think something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly,” Trump said.

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Cuban protesters ransack Communist office as energy crisis deepens

Protesters in Cuba have ransacked a Communist Party building following a rally over steep food prices and persistent power cuts, in a rare show of public dissent.

Five people were arrested after a small group vandalised the offices in the central city of Moron overnight into Saturday, Cuba’s Interior Ministry (Minint) said.

Discontent among Cubans has been mounting as the island is buffeted by rolling blackouts and shortages of food, fuel and medicine, exacerbated by a prolonged US oil blockade.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that, while the protesters’ complaints and demands were “legitimate”, “violence and vandalism that threatens citizen tranquility” would not be tolerated.

He wrote on X that the prolonged blackouts had understandably caused “distress”, blaming them on the US blockade that he characterised as having “cruelly intensified in recent months”.

The protest came hours after the government in Havana confirmed that talks with the US to “seek solutions through dialogue” to the two countries’ differences were under way.

Díaz-Canel said in a national broadcast on Friday that no fuel had entered the country in three months as a result of the US oil blockade.

US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for a change in Cuba’s leadership. He said on Monday that Cuba was in “deep trouble” as he threatened a “friendly takeover”.

Trump previously said the one-party state would be “next” following the capture of its ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in January.

Since then, the US has blocked Venezuelan oil shipments – which provided for about half of Cuba’s energy needs – and threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sold oil to the island nation. This is on top of a six-decade US trade embargo.

Havana relies heavily on imported fuel for electricity generation, and the oil blockade has brought Cuba’s beleaguered economy close to collapse.

The crisis has affected rubbish collection, emergency hospital wards, public transport and education.

Friday’s demonstration “initially began peacefully” before escalating into “acts of vandalism”, state-run newspaper Invasor said.

“A smaller group of people stoned the entrance to the building and started a fire in the street with furniture from the reception area.”

Other state-run facilities, including a pharmacy and a government-operated market were also targeted, it added.

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