DSA Sends Activists To Cuba To ‘Dismantle The U.S. Empire’

The Democratic Socialists of America are raising money to send members to Cuba so they can learn how to “dismantle [the] U.S. empire.”

The group set up the “Venceremos Fund,” named after a slogan popularized by Fidel Castro that translates to “We will overcome,” to raise money for the trips. The DSA has sent two delegations to learn about what the organization calls “the achievements and challenges of Cuban socialism.” 

According to the DSA, two delegations have already traveled to Cuba, including one this past October that included about 40 chapter leaders and rank-and-file members.

During the five-day visit, delegates met with leaders of Cuba’s Communist Party, learning how the country’s one-party government drafts legislation, selects representatives, and conducts its parliamentary proceedings.

The DSA says the trips are designed to counter what it describes as American misinformation about Cuba.

“One of the most powerful ways to counter U.S. propaganda about Cuba is to see the country firsthand,” the organization said. “These delegations are crucial in dispelling misinformation, strengthening our movement, and equipping participants with the knowledge to advocate for change back home.”

After returning to the United States, participants hosted a webinar to share what they learned after meeting with Cuban workers, students, and officials about “the challenges and achievements of Cuban socialism under the U.S. blockade.” 

The DSA also advocates removing Cuba from the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list, ending travel and trade restrictions, building relationships between American and Cuban labor unions, and sending humanitarian aid to the island.

The organization’s outreach to Cuba is not new. A DSA delegation also traveled there in 2023, where members reportedly held a two-hour private meeting with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

One delegate, Maria Franzblau, acknowledged Cuba’s food, medicine, and fuel shortages but argued those problems should be viewed in the context of being located “90 miles away from the most powerful capitalist empire in the world.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that Cuba’s outreach to American leftists, including Hasan Piker, reflects a strategy dating back to Castro, whom Rubio said sought to wage a “much wider and bigger war” against the United States following the Cuban Revolution.

“Cuba matters to us because it’s 90 miles from our shores, and it has a direct impact on our national security — be it the things they’ve been involved in in the past, the countries they’ve aligned with in the past and currently,” he said.

The State Department has similarly argued that many far-Left activists are not directly controlled by Cuba, but support for the communist regime has become “de facto policy orthodoxy” among parts of the American Left.