The Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the Cuban regime this Thursday of having built and maintained a vast network of intelligence and ideology that helped to establish the far left in the United States and in the Western Hemisphere, and that remains actively connected to radical groups both inside and outside of the West.
He said it during his speech at the Ministerial Conference on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism, held this Thursday at the Department of State in Washington D.C.
The conference brought together representatives from more than 70 countries from Europe, Latin America, and Asia, convened by the Trump administration to reshape the Western counterterrorism strategy in response to the threat of the extreme left.
"The extensive network of intelligence and ideology of the Cuban regime helped to build the far left in our country and in our hemisphere, and remains inextricably linked to far-left groups and movements both within and beyond the West," Rubio stated before the delegates.
The Secretary of State also noted that Iranian proxy networks are "increasingly closely linked to leftist militant groups around the world," and described Antifa militants as a transnational network that travels between Europe and the Americas to engage in coordinated attacks, share propaganda materials, and fund operations through encrypted channels.
Rubio argued that Western counter-terrorism has had for decades a "blind spot" regarding the political violence of the radical left, while jihadist threats garnered all the attention.
To support his thesis, he cited that between 1970 and 1980, 93% of terrorist attacks in the West came from the far left.
Currently, extreme left violence in Germany has increased by more than 40% in the past year, and in Greece, over 80% of radical violence is perpetrated by extreme left actors and anarchists.
As a historical background, he recalled the training of "tens of thousands of Marxist guerrillas in Castro's terrorist camps," alongside the actions of groups such as the FARC, ELN, Tupamaros, and Montoneros in Latin America, as well as the Red Brigades in Italy and the Red Army Faction in Germany.
Rubio announced that the Trump administration will continue to expand its anti-terrorism strategy: there will be new designations of far-left groups as foreign terrorist organizations, and the next counter-terrorism workshop will be co-organized with Germany.
"Either we cooperate across our borders or terrorists will continue to exploit the gaps between them," the Secretary of State warned.
The speech is made in the context of a sustained escalation of sanctions from Washington against Havana.
On July 13, just three days before the conference, the U.S. imposed a new round of sanctions, this time against 10 Cuban entities, including the Rapid Response Brigades and the Ministry of Tourism. In June, Rubio had already sanctioned MINFAR, ICAP, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.
The Cuban regime rejected the conference before it began. Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez called it "McCarthyite" and based on "lies," and advised Rubio to "read history."
The deputy minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío described it as a "smokescreen" to conceal the unfavorable electoral climate for the Republicans.
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