Federal officials are investigating U.S. nonprofits and activist groups over alleged coordination with Cuban government officials, while a fast-moving pro-Cuba network raced to defend Raúl Castro after the U.S. attorney general announced murder charges tied to the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes.
Digital said Justice and Treasury Department officials are examining lobbying, messaging, fundraising, delegations and political organizing efforts that could amount to a foreign influence campaign operating inside the United States. The outlet identified 145 nonprofits, labor groups, advocacy organizations and activist collectives across the country that it said are mobilizing in support of the Cuban government and the Communist Party of Cuba, with combined annual revenue of about $1 billion.
The speed of the response stood out. At 1:54 p.m. on Wednesday, the Party for Socialism and Liberation published six pre-produced graphics denouncing what it called the “BASELESS INDICTMENT OF RAUL CASTRO” and “A PRETEXT FOR ANOTHER WAR.” By 3:18 a.m. early Thursday morning, Vijay Prashad had posted on X that “Cuba is not a menace to the world” and that “The United States is a menace to the world,” adding that “The world stands with Raúl Castro, hero of the Cuban Revolution” and “The world turns its back on Donald Trump, clown of human destruction.”
Manolo De Los Santos shared that message without comment, and leaders from CodePink did the same. Later, at 1:46 p.m. on Thursday, BreakThrough News posted a video showing defiant Cubans, including one man who said, “We won't hand over Raúl.” That sequence began nine minutes after Todd Blanche announced murder charges against Castro over the 1996 incident involving Brothers to the Rescue, the exile group whose two civilian aircraft were shot down.
The investigation is part of a broader Digital series looking at allegations that Cuba’s communist government built an influence network inside the United States. The organizations named in the reporting include CodePink, the People's Forum and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Rep. Carlos Gimenez also appeared on “Mornings with Maria” to react to the indictment. The question now is not whether the message machine exists, but how far the government says it reaches inside American politics and who will be pulled into the next round of scrutiny.
