Washington intensified pressure on Havana with a report accusing Cuban intelligence of penetrating government institutions, cultivating American activists and supporting extremist movements as the Trump administration expands sanctions against the communist government.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The Trump administration escalated its campaign against Cuba on Monday by accusing Havana of operating a far-reaching espionage and political influence network that penetrated senior levels of the U.S. government and sought to deepen ideological divisions within American society.
A State Department report alleged that Cuba “has 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 document offered few previously undisclosed details, but its release added to mounting pressure on the Cuban government as Washington pursues new sanctions, restricts the island’s access to oil and seeks to hold former Cuban President Raul Castro legally accountable.
The report also claimed Cuban officials developed relationships with left-wing organizations in the United States and abroad to promote “overriding resentment and fundamental hatred of the United States and the broader West.”
According to the State Department, Havana influenced “a disproportionate share of America’s most famous and influential extremist movements” as part of an effort to “turn America against itself.”
The report did not publicly provide evidence substantiating all of its broader allegations. Its central claim that Cuba has conducted intelligence operations against the United States, however, follows a documented history of espionage cases involving Cuban agents and American officials.
U.S.-Cuban intelligence operations have continued since the Cold War, producing several prominent prosecutions.
Five Cuban intelligence operatives known as the “Cuban Five” were convicted after infiltrating exile and civil society organizations in Florida during the 1990s.
Ana Montes, a senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, also admitted to spying for Cuba while holding a position that gave her access to highly sensitive national security information.
More recently, former State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers pleaded guilty to working for Cuba. Victor Manuel Rocha, a former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, separately pleaded guilty in another case involving espionage on behalf of the communist government.
The history of clandestine activity has extended in both directions.
The CIA and Cuban exiles attempted to assassinate revolutionary leader and former Cuban President Fidel Castro more than 600 times, according to an estimate once provided by Fabian Escalante, Castro’s former intelligence chief.
Monday’s report arrives during another sharp deterioration in relations between Washington and Havana following a brief period of diplomatic engagement under former President Barack Obama.
In 2015, Obama sought to normalize relations with Cuba after more than five decades of hostility. His administration restored diplomatic ties and pursued expanded engagement based on the belief that direct contact might produce greater political and economic change than continued isolation.
President Donald Trump reversed much of that policy after taking office in 2017, restoring a more confrontational approach toward the Cuban government.
After returning to the White House in 2025, Trump redesignated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism on his first day in office.
The administration has since expanded economic pressure on the island, including sanctions directed at governments and companies involved in supplying Cuba with oil.
Those measures have effectively created an energy embargo, worsening existing fuel shortages and contributing to repeated nationwide electrical blackouts.
Cuba’s economic vulnerability increased after the U.S. military removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power last year.
Maduro had been one of Havana’s most important regional allies and provided the Cuban government with subsidized energy. His removal disrupted a supply relationship that had helped sustain the island’s economy.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that the collapse of Cuba’s government could follow the fall of Maduro’s administration in Venezuela.
In June, the president said the United States would be “taking over” Cuba “almost immediately.”
The island lies approximately 90 miles, or 145 kilometers, from Florida and has remained a focal point of U.S. foreign policy, regional security concerns and domestic political debate for more than six decades.
The latest accusations link the administration’s foreign policy toward Cuba with its broader warnings about communist and leftist political influence inside the United States.
By emphasizing alleged connections among Cuban intelligence, American activists and extremist organizations, the State Department is framing Havana not only as a foreign adversary but also as a force seeking to exploit domestic political divisions.
Cuban officials had not been quoted responding to the report.
The document’s release indicates that Washington intends to continue combining diplomatic isolation, economic pressure, criminal prosecution and public allegations of espionage as part of its effort to weaken Cuba’s communist government.
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