Inside Cuba’s foreign influence campaign: From the ’60s Venceremos Brigade to a California union hall

This is the second article in a series examining the Communist Party of Cuba’s alleged malign foreign influence campaign in the U.S., using Americans to bolster its communist regime.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Treasury Department investigates Marxist streamer Hasan Piker for potentially breaking laws barring doing business with Cuba’s communist regime, Fox News Digital has learned that the Piker probe is part of a wider federal inquiry into a possible Cuban influence operation: this one on U.S. soil, led, in part, by a charming senior diplomat.

The U.S. operation is part of a global transnational pro-Cuba network that brought Piker to Cuba in March as part of the Nuestra América Convoy, or “Our America” Convoy. Piker told a podcast that “the Cuban government actually hit my contact from the embassy” and promised him “consistent internet access,” if he’d make a trip to Cuba. He didn’t name his embassy “contact.”

The federal probe is being conducted jointly by the Justice, State and Treasury departments, according to sources. Fox News Digital’s own investigation of the matter led to a worn building, marked “Machinists Hall” in big letters outside, facing Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington, Calif., outside Los Angeles.

On the night of May 9, pro-communism activists walked through the doors of Machinists Hall, past folding tables lined with pins lionizing communist leader Che Guevara, copies of philosopher Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” and stacks of “The Militant” newspaper, quickly taking their seats on folding chairs in a tight room that filled up to about 50 people.

Across the front of the room hung a banner, essentially proclaiming Cuba’s foreign policy and national security priorities: “U.S. HANDS OFF CUBA! Remove Cuba from state sponsors terrorism list! END THE BLOCKADE, TRADE, TRAVEL BANS & SANCTIONS!” At the bottom in smaller print was the sponsor for the night’s strategy session: the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee, a collection of 23 organizations, including CodePink, whose co-founder Susan Medea Benjamin was also sent a subpoena by the Treasury Department for her trip to Cuba in March, sources said.

They had assembled to hear from a special guest: David Ramírez Álvarez, second secretary at the Embassy of Cuba. Ramírez Álvarez has drawn the attention of U.S. officials for allegedly coordinating a malign foreign influence campaign in the U.S., sources told Fox News Digital.

A spokesperson for the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., denied any improprieties. The embassy didn’t make Ramírez Álvarez available for an interview.

“Cuban diplomats strictly comply with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In the United States, our diplomatic work has been categorically aligned with its principles and purposes,” the spokesperson said.

The Vienna Convention states explicitly that diplomats must “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State.” It also states: “They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.”

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A Fox News Digital investigation found the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee is part of a wider pro-communist Cuba network that numbers 145 organizations with $1 billion in collective annual revenues, spanning labor unions, university groups, anti-war coalitions, socialist organizations, racial justice nonprofits, legal advocacy groups and religious organizations. The network includes at least 123 key leaders.

The network is led by a number of groups – including the People’s Forum, CodePink, BreakThrough News, Tricontinental Ltd., ANSWER Coalition, Party for Socialism and Liberation and Inter Religious Foundation For Community Organization Inc. – funded and supported by Neville Roy Singham, an American expatriate tech tycoon, living in Shanghai, supporting the Chinese Communist Party and its alliance with the Communist Party of Cuba.

Investigators are examining how Ramírez Álvarez and other Cuban officials build relationships between U.S.-based activists and the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP, as it’s known by the acronym for its Spanish name, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos. After taking over the country in a communist revolution in 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro founded the group in 1960 to manage foreign delegations and solidarity campaigns.

The organization is today led by Fernando González Llort, one of five former Cuban intelligence officers, known as the “Cuban Five,” convicted in the U.S. years ago on espionage-related charges and released after spending time in jail. ICAP is understood to be a gateway for revolutionaries from around the world to get embedded in the propaganda, organizing tactics and strategic goals of the Communist Party of Cuba. In the past, U.S. officials have identified it as a proxy for Cuban intelligence services. It has denied wrongdoing and says it’s a civil society organization.

A representative from the leftist group CodePink moved through the crowd alongside nonprofit labor activists from the Service Employees International Union, the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 36 and the International Association of Machinists Local 1484. Other participating nonprofit groups included Jewish Voice for Peace, the National Lawyers Guild, Venceremos Brigade and Democratic Socialists of America, which helped elect Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor.

The Embassy of Cuba spokesperson noted that “diplomatic work in any context,” as stated in Article 3(e) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, is to “‘promote friendly relations,’ and consequently to interact with organizations and institutions of civil society in the State to which one is accredited.”

“It is neither extraordinary nor a violation of any international or U.S. law, for Cuban diplomats to engage with civil society, just as diplomats do in any country and as the diplomatic corps accredited in the United States does,” the spokesperson added, noting that the Vienna Convention also includes “ascertaining by all lawful means conditions and developments in the receiving State, and reporting thereon to the Government of the sending State.”

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The widening federal investigation into Cuba-linked activist and nonprofit networks closely mirrors the investigative framework laid out in National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, dubbed “NSPM-7,” issued by President Donald Trump on Sept. 25, 2025, after the brutal assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk. What officials are exploring is how malign actors from overseas are allegedly influencing and stoking Americans to hate, anger, agitation and, most lethally, political violence.

The order explicitly called for a “comprehensive national strategy to investigate, prosecute and disrupt entities and individuals engaged in acts of political violence and intimidation” and directed authorities to investigate “all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them.”

NSPM-7 further ordered Treasury Department officials to “identify and disrupt financial networks that fund domestic terrorism and political violence,” “deploy investigative tools,” “examine financial flows” and “trace illicit funding streams.” The memorandum also instructed the IRS to ensure that “no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism.”

Those directives align with the current Cuba-related probe, in which the Justice, Treasury and State departments and other federal agencies are examining activist organizations, nonprofit funding pipelines, foreign coordination networks, travel logistics, communications and potential sanctions violations tied to Cuba’s communist regime, which the U.S. has designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

Investigators are scrutinizing whether organizations and influencers functioned as part of broader ideological or financial networks connected to foreign state interests, according to sources, precisely the type of “organized structures, networks, entities” and “funding sources” NSPM-7 instructed agencies to investigate.

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Activists and union members supporting the Communist Party of Cuba share reports from their recent trips to Cuba at a meeting in Machinists Hall in Wilmington, Calif., on May 9, 2026. (LB/SplashNews for Fox News Digital)

Back in southern California, Fox News Digital attended the recent Saturday night meeting in person and on Zoom. Mwezi Odom, a leader from the African People’s Socialist Party, moderated the discussions, wearing a beret with a red star, welcoming the “comrades” in the room.

After waiting patiently for technical problems to be resolved, Ramírez Álvarez greeted activists by first name.

“Happy to see Paul, happy to see Bob, Brandy, many friends, many friends that we have all around the US,” Ramírez Álvarez said, his face broadcast into the room on a wide-screen TV hanging in the front. “Quite a few friends and obviously people that have done so much for Cuba throughout the years.”

Over the next hour, Ramírez Álvarez briefed activists on congressional legislation, lobbying strategy, political allies in Washington and nationwide organizing efforts to pressure lawmakers to lift sanctions and oppose U.S. policy toward Cuba. Investigators are examining whether years of recurring coordination between Ramírez Álvarez and activist organizations, from church meetings to podcasts, crossed the line from constitutionally protected advocacy into political activity directed by a foreign government.

One attendee asked Ramírez Álvarez what activists should demand from legislators.

Odom, from the African People’s Socialist Party, repeated the question: “What are some of the asks that they should relay to legislators around the demands of Cuba?”

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Ramírez Álvarez initially said he didn’t fully understand the question, then proceeded to answer the question in detail.

“What I can do is give you an update of what’s happening in Congress right now,” he said.

Ramírez Álvarez outlined congressional legislation, Senate votes, lobbying campaigns and ongoing “action days on the Hill every week.”

“Right now, currently, it’s ironic,” he said, “but it’s one of the most active moments in, you might say, the past 10 years in regards to Cuba, regarding, you know, legislations and legislative actions.”

He highlighted S. 136, the “United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2025,” introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., with Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., which would repeal major portions of the U.S. embargo in place on Cuba since 1961 and normalize trade relations with the country.

He also pointed to the House companion bill, H.R. 7521, introduced by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., to dismantle statutory sanctions and travel restrictions on the island. Ramírez also referenced Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s “New Good Neighbor Act,” H.R. 1056, which calls for formally annulling the Monroe Doctrine and criticizes U.S. interventionism in Latin America, including policy toward Cuba.

Ramírez Álvarez additionally cited a recent War Powers resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., opposing potential military escalation involving Cuba, noting that Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined Democrats in support.

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“There are many initiatives being put out there, many actions being put out there,” he said.

Ramírez Álvarez continued by discussing Senate votes and Democratic Party positioning.

He then escalated his rhetoric, calling the U.S. embargo “an act of war,” “collective punishment” and “genocidal action against a society and a people,” all language the nonprofits and pro-communist Cuba network use.

Throughout the evening, speakers repeatedly discussed expanding organizing efforts, building activist infrastructure, increasing labor coordination and broadening outreach campaigns throughout the U.S. on behalf of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Mark Friedman, an International Association of Machinists representative and leader in the Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee, described the strategic importance of U.S. delegations traveling to Cuba.

“The job now is defending Cuba in whatever way we can,” Friedman told attendees.

The spokeswoman for the Embassy of Cuba said that it was appropriate for Cuban government officials to engage with pro-Cuba groups, “Therefore, staying informed about developments related to Cuba in the United States and engaging with organizations that have shown solidarity with the Cuban people during these difficult times falls completely within the functions established by international instruments,” the Embassy of Cuba spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman concluded, “Our diplomats do not encourage any citizen or organization in the United States to overthrow or act against the constitutional order of the United States.”

Today’s activation is part of a long historical relationship between far-left groups and Cuba’s government — including its intelligence agency, according to historical records. 

For more than six decades, since Fidel Castro’s communist takeover of the nation in 1959, the Cuban government has cultivated a sophisticated American solidarity infrastructure that evolved from Cold War-era revolutionary movements into a modern network of nonprofits, labor groups, activist collectives, student organizations and political campaigns.

The roots stretch back to the early 1960s. Intelligence reports and defectors later alleged Cuba’s intelligence apparatus cultivated relationships with American radicals through the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP. Today, investigators say many of the same pathways remain active — labor delegations, student exchanges, activist brigades, humanitarian campaigns, political education projects and coordinated media outreach.

In late 1969, members of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, as the group is known, traveled to Havana and launched the Venceremos Brigade, a program organized with the Cuban government to bring American activists to Cuba for political solidarity work and labor brigades.

In the years that followed, factions of the SDS splintered into the Weather Underground, the militant anti-war group responsible for bombings across the U.S. during the 1970s.

At the center of the recent organizing push is Ramírez Álvarez, the senior Cuban Embassy official who has spent the last several years crisscrossing the United States appearing alongside labor unions, Democratic Socialists of America organizers, Green Party activists, National Lawyers Guild chapters, church groups, anti-war coalitions, podcasts, universities and activist nonprofits, including modern-day versions of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Venceremos Brigade.

Public records place Ramírez Álvarez at events in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Kentucky and Washington, D.C., where he has advocated lifting the embargo, removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and expanding solidarity campaigns with American activists.

At the Wilmington meeting, a local organizer, Destiny Rivera-Gome, urged attendees to bring organizers into schools, churches, unions and community organizations.

“If you’re a teacher, invite us to the classroom,” Rivera-Gome said. “[Cuban] President Miguel Díaz-Canel had shared that what they need is not only permanent massive campaigns, but they also need a network to counter the propaganda against the Cuban people.”

Federal investigators are examining whether activities described publicly at events like the Wilmington meeting crossed into coordinated foreign political activity requiring registration with the Justice Department under a federal law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

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The organizations involved publicly describe their work as “solidarity” activism, “humanitarian” aid, labor organizing, “anti-imperialist” advocacy and opposition to U.S. sanctions.

But investigators are examining the extent of coordination between activists and Cuban diplomatic officials.

The Venceremos Brigade is currently operating as a fiscally sponsored project of the People’s Forum, the nonprofit funded by Singham.

The People’s Forum and its affiliated organizations have sponsored campaigns supporting communist Cuba, communist Venezuela, Palestine activism and anti-police organizing, including the caravan earlier this year that is under investigation.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass previously participated in Venceremos Brigade trips to Cuba during its early decades, and her opponent, Spencer Pratt, published a video drawing attention to her past affiliation.

Donation pages tied to Cuba aid efforts raise additional questions for investigators because they often tell donors to hide the fact that the donations are going to Cuba.

For example, a People’s Forum fundraising page soliciting solar panel donations for Cuba instructs donors: “Please do not write ‘Cuba’ in donation comments or on the memo line of checks. Simply write ‘Urgent Aid.’”

The People’s Forum also sponsors the Hatuey Project, named after a Taíno chief executed by Spanish colonizers in Cuba in 1512.

Several organizations at the Wilmington event openly discussed material support campaigns aimed at helping Cuba’s energy and medical sectors.

Rachel, an organizer affiliated with CodePink who didn’t share her last name, proposed agricultural delegations and aid campaigns to support Cuban food production.

“We grow food,” she said.

The Wilmington gathering was only one node in a much broader network.

National Lawyers Guild leader Anna Capati described revitalizing a Cuba subcommittee within the organization and coordinating resolutions opposing U.S. sanctions.

The ideological messaging at the event extended beyond Cuba. One activist group tied to the network, Anti-Racist Action, describes itself online as having “over 35 years of experience in antifa activism.”

Speakers praised the Soviet Union’s communism, denounced capitalism, defended the Palestinian cause, condemned U.S. imperialism and advocated what several called “working-class revolution.”

Estee Chandler, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, delivered a video message praising Cuba’s historical support for Palestinian causes and highlighting Cuba’s participation in international legal actions against Israel.

Throughout the night, speakers repeatedly framed Cuba not merely as a foreign policy issue, but as part of a broader ideological struggle against capitalism and American power.

Groups involved in the Cuba solidarity movement deny acting as foreign agents and characterize their work as constitutionally protected activism opposing sanctions and supporting “humanitarian” engagement.

CodePink, the People’s Forum, Democratic Socialists of America, the National Lawyers Guild, and other organizations contacted by Fox News Digital didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

The southern California meeting provides a rare public glimpse into a network that has spent decades quietly building relationships between American activist groups and the Cuban state.

As one organizer told attendees near the end of the night: “Please put us in front of a group, and we got you.”

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