US accuses Cuba of sweeping spy campaign, aiding American left

AFP wire, dateline Washington, published July 20, 2026 (carried by NZ Herald, Jamaica Observer, France 24 and others).

A US State Department report has accused Cuban spies of infiltrating the highest levels of Government in Washington and aiding "left-wing terrorism" on American soil.

Containing little new information, the report, titled "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism", comes as US President Donald Trump pushes to end communist rule of the island while amping up anti-leftist rhetoric at home.

A months-long pressure campaign has seen Washington effectively impose an oil embargo on Cuba, while issuing economic sanctions against key state-run companies and even indicting the former President, Raul Castro.

The State Department report alleged that Cuba "has infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists [and] backed an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism on American soil".

Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez, in a post on X, called the new report "the latest fallacy from the US State Department". He said it was part of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's effort to create a "pretext for sustaining a cruel and criminal economic war that punishes every Cuban family, as well as his aspiration to launch a military attack on Cuba, for which he is desperately seeking the support of US citizens".

US threatens takeover of Cuba: The report released Monday made sweeping – if unsubstantiated – allegations that Cuba has cultivated relationships with leftist groups across the world and in the US to drive "overriding resentment and fundamental hatred of the United States and the broader West". The State Department said that the communist country had influenced "a disproportionate share of America's most famous and influential extremist movements", in an effort to "turn America against itself".

Earlier this year, the US military overthrew Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – a long-time supporter of the Cuban Government who provided subsidised energy to the island. Since then, the United States has effectively imposed an oil embargo on Cuba that has contributed to multiple nationwide blackouts.

Trump has repeatedly signalled that the Cuban Government could be next after Venezuela to fall to US pressure, and said in June that Washington would be "taking over" the Caribbean island, about 145km from Florida, "almost immediately".

- AFP