
The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced new visa restrictions on Friday targeting members of extremist left-wing groups, calling those who fund or support them “enemies of our civilization” who are not welcome on U.S. soil.
The announcement was shared by the official account of the State Department on X, one day after Rubio chaired the "Ministerial Meeting on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism" in Washington, which was attended by representatives from between 65 and 70 countries.
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela were explicitly excluded from the meeting, in line with the Trump administration's stance toward those regimes.
"Foreigners who finance, incite, or collaborate with extreme left terrorists are enemies of our civilization and are not welcome in the United States," Rubio declared during the summit held this Thursday.
The Secretary of State described left-wing extremism as "a poisonous resentment disguised as the language of equality" and argued that U.S. anti-terrorism doctrine has ignored this "blind spot" for too long.
The new restrictions, based on Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and Presidential Memorandum on National Security-7, apply to individuals who have supported or incited acts of terrorism, engaged in economic sabotage, financed violent networks, or facilitated the convergence of extremist groups.
Rubio also announced that the administration will offer up to 10 million dollars through the "Rewards for Justice" program for information that helps dismantle the funding networks of these groups.
The spokesperson for the State Department, Tommy Pigott, described the threat as "an old threat that resurfaces with strong transnational ties."
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded by accusing Rubio of trying to "reinstate political persecution and repression" in the United States and described the accusations as "McCarthyist."
The initiative has not been without friction among allies: Spain attended the summit only at the embassy level, expressing reservations about the approach that treats Antifa as a structured organization, something that several critics question.
"Under President Trump's administration, and for the first time, the United States is building the infrastructure, alliances, and strategy needed to defeat the scourge of extreme left terrorism," Rubio stated before the delegations gathered in Washington.
The measure is part of a sustained escalation: in November 2025, the State Department had already designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations four European far-left groups: Antifa Ost (Germany), FAI/FRI (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice, and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (both from Greece).
Cuba occupies a central place in this agenda. In June 2026, Rubio described the island before the U.S. Senate as “the global capital of radical leftist terrorism” and sanctioned five Cuban entities, including the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), accusing them of financing subversive operations.
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