After "Political Terrorism" Summit, U.S. Names 43 Americans + Groups

By Ken Klippenstein, edited by William M. Arkin. Published July 20, 2026. Subhead: "Rubio report on Cuban subversion names Zohran Mamdani, Amy Goodman, Hasan Piker + orgs like DSA and Amazon Labor Union."

A new State Department report on Cuba's "campaign of subversion against the United States" is a virtual government blacklist against left-wing Americans and groups. Linked to last week's Rubio-led summit on "political terrorism," the report is unusually candid about the government's targets.

"Many of the most significant upheavals in recent American political history — from the George Floyd riots to the rise of Antifa to the explosion of pro-terrorist activism on American college campuses — can be linked, in some way, shape, or form, to Cuban influence," the report says.

As for who these supposed agents of Cuban influence are, the report is remarkably explicit. It names people like Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry's ice cream fame), Mayors Zohran Mamdani and Karen Bass, media figures like Amy Goodman and Hasan Piker, and organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America and the Amazon Labor Union.

The implication is clear: Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks there should be a modern-day blacklist of the political left in America. In fact, the report explicitly mentions the "blacklists, McCarthy-era investigations and prosecutions" of the 1950s and their effectiveness at dismembering the Communist Party USA.

An entire section of the report — numbering over three pages long — is dedicated to the Democratic Socialists of America.

"The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) serves as a particularly potent illustration of the ideological victory of Cuba's effort to position itself as the spiritual capital of Third Worldist Radicalism," the report says. "This represents a significant advance for the Cuban influence operation: Havana no longer needs to rely solely on intelligence penetration or asset cultivation to exert influence over the United States."

Though the report concedes that "DSA was not shaped by the direct and tangible influence of the Cuban government" and that it has "organic ideological commitments," it insists that "None of that is to say that the group has no ties to the Cuban regime and its influence network."

Instead, the report points to the group's delegations to Cuba as evidence of Cuban influence.

"For more than six decades, the Cuban regime has been the leading sponsor of radical leftism and Third Worldism in the United States," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on X/Twitter linking to the report.

Entry from the named list: "Goodman, Amy: The host of Democracy Now! who the report notes attended the wedding of leftist billionaire Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans."

Entry from the named list: "Cohen, Ben: The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's who attended the wedding of Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans."

Entry from the named list: "Piker, Hasan: A streamer and left-wing political commentator who, the report notes, traveled to Cuba to film a documentary and participated in the Nuestra América Convoy."

Entry from the named list: "Hirsi, Isra: A campus activist and daughter of Ilhan Omar who was suspended from Barnard College for organizing anti-Israel encampments before traveling to Cuba."

Entry from the named list: "Smalls, Christian: The founder of the Amazon Labor Union who participated in the 2026 Nuestra América Convoy to Cuba."

Entry from the named list: "Mamdani, Zohran: Mayor of New York."

A White House press release summarizing the earlier "political terrorism" summit said that "far-left extremism will be treated with the same seriousness and ferocity the world has long reserved for jihadist terrorism."

I read the 100-page report and counted references to at least 43 contemporary American groups and individuals.

Guilt by association at its finest. But what exactly are they guilty of? What the report shows isn't that any of these people are knowingly taking directions from a foreign power — only that they disagree with the U.S. government on Cuba policy (or at most, agree with Cuba). Their views can be wrong — aggressively, offensively wrong even — but it's their goddamn right as Americans to hold them.