Pro-Cuba activists plan trip honoring Castro amid Trump pressure
American leftist groups are organizing 150 U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba in August for a two-week celebration honoring Fidel Castro's centennial birthday despite Trump-era sanctions.
The National Network on Cuba and the Venceremos Brigade are jointly organizing the expedition, which they are calling the “Centenary of Fidel Brigade.” According to information posted on the groups’ websites, participants will travel to the communist island to “meet revolutionary heroes,” “engage in solidarity labor,” and “deliver material aid” to the Castro regime.
The initiative represents a direct challenge to President Donald Trump’s intensified pressure campaign against the Cuban dictatorship. The Trump administration has imposed sweeping economic and national security sanctions on the island, secured a May indictment targeting Raúl Castro, Fidel’s surviving brother, and publicly floated the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.
The National Network on Cuba framed the trip as an act of defiance against American policy. The U.S. is waging an all-out assault on Cuba, the group’s announcement declared, adding that Cuba’s revolution “stands with Palestine” and “refuses to break.”
Brigade participants will receive instruction on Cuba’s struggle against the economic embargo, its purported efforts to combat racism, and its deployment of medical personnel abroad, according to the NNOC. The same organization coordinated a high-profile March “convoy” to Cuba that included leftist social media influencer Hasan Piker, the daughter of Representative Ilhan Omar, and members of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Both organizing groups operate in coordination with the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, known by its Spanish acronym ICAP. Fidel Castro himself established ICAP as a propaganda apparatus designed to influence foreign visitors. The Venceremos Brigade receives fiscal backing from the New York-based leftist organization People’s Forum and gained notoriety in recent years following revelations that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass organized on behalf of the group during the 1970s.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated ICAP and its associated travel agency, Amistur Cuba SA, for sanctions in early June. ICAP is currently led by Fernando Gonzalez Llort, a former prisoner in the United States who was convicted of espionage on behalf of Cuba.
When announcing the ICAP sanctions, Rubio characterized the Cuban government as conducting decades of warfare against American interests. He condemned the regime for holding the Cuban people hostage to advance its goals of serving as a base for U.S. adversaries and spreading radical left-wing violence throughout the Western Hemisphere.
With information from Washington Examiner
