Cuban-American, former Trump advisor, accuses the left in the U.S. of legitimizing the dictatorship in Cuba

Danielle Álvarez, a Cuban-American Republican strategist and former senior advisor to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump in 2024, demanded this Tuesday that the American left stop providing cover and legitimacy to the communist regime in Cuba.

In a message posted on X, Álvarez was straightforward: "The left continues to support a dictatorship. The Cuban regime imprisons dissenters, silences the press, and crushes freedom."

To support her complaint, she shared devastating testimonies from her own family.

"My uncle spent 17 years in prison for speaking out. My aunt was sent to the United States alone at the age of 12, separated from her parents, with her childhood stolen. My mother was forced to participate in a work program so brutal that it shattered children and took away their hope," he wrote.

And he concluded with an expression that serves as a direct accusation: "And the left still legitimizes this!"

Álvarez is the daughter of Cuban immigrants settled in Miami who fled the island's political system, an experience she has described as a significant influence on her career.

The testimonies shared refer to documented practices of the regime: the imprisonment of dissidents, the forced separation of families, and forced labor programs such as the Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), which affected around 30,000 individuals between 1965 and 1968, and the Schools in the Countryside, which from 1966 on required children and adolescents to work in agriculture without compensation.

Álvarez's message arrives at a time of intense pressure from the Trump administration against Havana, and following explicit statements from U.S. officials indicating that the goal is regime change.

At the same time, leftist organizations such as the Communist Party of the United States have continued to publicly defend the Cuban government, attributing the island's crisis to the embargo and opposing the sanctions.

Álvarez has a high-profile political career: she was Director of Communications for the Republican National Committee during the 2022 midterm elections and Director of Communications for the Southern Gulf region in Trump’s reelection campaign in 2020. Since September 2025, she has been a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, a bipartisan public strategy firm.

She is recognized as an expert in communication aimed at the Latino electorate, particularly in Florida, and has been a consistent voice in the debates regarding the Cuban regime.