WASHINGTON, United States — The U.S. State Department released a report on Monday accusing Cuban intelligence services of infiltrating senior levels of the U.S. government and supporting left-wing extremist activities in the United States, further escalating tensions between Washington and Havana.
The report, titled “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” was released as President Donald Trump’s administration continued its campaign to increase pressure on Cuba through sanctions and other economic measures.
The report alleged that Cuba had “infiltrated the highest reaches of the U.S. government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists, and backed an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism on American soil.” The report did not present new public evidence to support the allegations.
Espionage between the United States and Cuba has a long history. U.S. authorities have previously prosecuted several people for spying on behalf of Cuba, including the “Cuban Five,” former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Ana Montes, former State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers, and former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez rejected the report, calling it “the latest fallacy from the U.S. State Department” in a post on X. He accused U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of using the report to justify continued economic sanctions against Cuba and to seek support for military action against the island.
The State Department also alleged that Cuba had cultivated relationships with left-wing groups in the United States and other countries to undermine U.S. interests.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Trump restored a hardline policy toward Cuba in 2017 and again after returning to office in 2025, when he redesignated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. The administration has since expanded sanctions against Cuban state-run entities and increased economic pressure on the island.
