A U.S. State Department report on Monday 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 U.S. 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.

Ahead of U.S. elections in November, Mr. Trump and other Republican leaders have meanwhile revived Cold War-style rhetoric portraying left-wing US political figures as a communist “menace.”

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

While the allegations represent an escalation in U.S.-Cuba tensions, espionage between the two countries has long been known.

Since the Cold War, the U.S. has made high-profile arrests of Cuban intelligence officers, including the “Cuban Five” who were convicted of infiltrating civil society groups in Florida in the 1990s, and Ana Montes, who spied from a senior position within the Defense Intelligence Agency.

In more recent cases, State Department intelligence analyst Walter Kendall Myers and former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha pled guilty in separate cases to spying for the communist country.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Cuban exiles tried to assassinate late Cuban president and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro more than 600 times, his ex-intelligence chief, Fabian Escalante, once estimated.

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 U.S. 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.”

U.S. 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 U.S. 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.”

The report makes the latest downturn in the long-fraught relationship.

In 2015, then president Barack Obama attempted a rapprochement with the Cuban government, hoping a more diplomatic approach would yield better relations after a half-century of hostility.

Mr. Trump quickly restored a hardline stance in 2017, and — on returning to office in 2025 — reinstated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism on his first day in office.

Earlier this year, the U.S. military overthrew Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro — a long-time supporter of the Cuban government who provided subsidized 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 signaled that the Cuban government could be next after Venezuela to fall to U.S. pressure, and said in June that Washington would be “taking over” the Caribbean island, about 90 miles (145 km) from Florida, “almost immediately.”

Cuba suffered another blackout of the National Electric System, or SEN, leaving the entire country without power, officials said.

The blackout on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) was the third such incident in two weeks as a U.S. oil embargo stresses the island’s grid.

Fuel has been running out across Cuba since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island, deepening the island’s ongoing economic and financial crisis. Public transportation has largely been halted, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries.

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs. A solution for fuel imports is not yet in sight.

The state-owned Electric Union reported that a problem with a generating unit in the eastern province of Holguín caused “a sudden frequency change,” resulting in the SEN blackout around midday.

Both the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Electric Union indicated that “protocols for its restoration have been activated,” meaning that “micro-islands” are being established and then interconnected to provide power to priority locations, such as hospitals and food processing plants.

By the afternoon, some parts of the capital Havana had power restored, The Associated Press confirmed, while authorities indicated that 4% of the city had received electricity. The provinces of Guantánamo and Cienfuegos reported that they had begun distributing power to their hospitals, and Matanzas confirmed that power had been restored to the city’s historic center.

Last week, two nationwide blackouts — on Monday and Friday — left more than 9 million Cubans in the dark, adding to two others in March, as well as several regional outages.

The blackouts have a significant impact on the population and, combined with the energy embargo, have led to transportation limitations, reduced work hours and flight cancellations, in addition to serious public health consequences.

The power outages also affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone service.

On the streets of Havana, the blackout didn’t surprise residents.

“These blackouts are normal in Cuba now. If something else happened, it would be strange,” said Roberto Liana, 69, a retail store clerk.

Meanwhile, many were trying to adapt to the circumstances, like Sayli Aguilera, 25, a mother of two. “We’re improvising and doing what we can,” she said.

Many families have installed solar backup systems such as panels and portable batteries, and the main mode of transportation for the population consists of electric motorcycles and tricycles equipped with photovoltaic power.

Cuba’s communist model needs “urgent changes” to overcome a major crisis which cannot be solely blamed on a crippling U.S. oil blockade, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in his frankest admission yet of the need for radical reforms.

“The situation calls for urgent and necessary changes,” Mr. Diaz-Canel told the Communist Party’s politburo in remarks broadcast on Thursday (June 18).

Mr. Diaz-Canel was speaking at a meeting called to fast-track reforms aimed at boosting the private sector and attracting more capital from millions of Cubans who have fled the crisis abroad.

The proposals are part of a desperate, eleventh-hour bid to stave off economic collapse in the face of unprecedented U.S. pressure.

Mr. Diaz-Canel cited China and Vietnam as possible models for opening Cuba’s economy to the world in order to “create economic wealth and distribute it equally.”

Some of the reforms “will not have absolute consensus but cannot be postponed,” Mr. Diaz-Canel stressed.

“When people’s lives become this hard,” the Communist Party and government had a responsibility to “change what needs to be changed” rather than try to explain away the crisis, he argued.

The oil blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in January has brought Cuba’s already moribund economy to the brink of collapse, marked by power cuts sometimes lasting over 30 hours and shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine.

While Havana’s position has been to blame its woes on a more-than-six-decade U.S. trade embargo and the blockade, Diaz-Canel admitted there were “obstacles that don’t come from outside, nor the blockade.”

He pointed to “slowness, bureaucracy and norms that impede those who want to produce” as well as “decisions that we have put off.”

The reforms were approved by the Communist Party on Wednesday.

They also received the blessing of nonagenarian ex-president Raul Castro, widely seen as the power behind the throne, who described them as “the most beneficial to the revolution at this time.”

They are expected to be approved by the National Assembly, which rubber-stamps legislation, in a vote later Thursday.

‘Worse each day’

It is unclear, however, whether the changes will satisfy Trump, who is pushing for a change in Cuba’s leaders as well as its economic model.

Many disillusioned Cubans shrugged off the announcements as either too little too late or an outright “lie.”

Some of the reforms announced were a rehash of earlier proposals, such as granting greater autonomy to state-owned enterprises, which account for roughly 80 percent of economic activity.

“It’s a lie, we’ve been doing this for 67 years (since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution) and it gets worse every day,” Iris Montero Borges, a 58-year-old cleaner at state telecoms company Etecsa who had been without power at home for 12 hours, told AFP.

The country’s small but growing business class welcomed the changes, however, while making clear they did not see them as a quick fix.

Private businesses, which can employ up to 100 people, were authorized in 2021 and have become an increasingly important part of the island’s economy.

The reforms “offer hope, a chance that may or may not materialize,” said Mario Gonzales, the 32-year-old manager of a restaurant in Havana’s historic old town which was thronged with tourists a decade ago and now fills only a handful of tables for dinner

Cuba on Tuesday (May 5, 2026) accused U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of lying when he denied that the United States was carrying out an oil blockade on Cuba.

Cuba has been suffering from an energy crisis since January, when U.S. forces seized Venezuela president and Cuban ally Nicolas Maduro and Washington threatened tariffs on countries that send crude to the communist-led island.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on X that Mr. Rubio “has simply chosen to lie,” and that he “contradicts the President and the White House Spokesperson.”

Mr. Rodriguez was responding to comments made by Mr. Rubio at the White House hours before.

“There’s no oil blockade on Cuba, per se,” Mr. Rubio said while guest-hosting the daily White House press briefing.

“Here’s what’s happening with Cuba, okay? Cuba used to get free oil from Venezuela, used to give them a bunch of free oil,” Mr. Rubio said. “They would take, like, 60 percent of that oil and resell it for cash. It wouldn’t even go to benefit the people.”

He added: “So the only blockade that’s happened is the Cubans have decided, I mean, the Venezuelans have decided we’re not giving you free oil anymore.”

Mr. Rodriguez also denounced additional sanctions against Cuba’s energy sector announced by Donald Trump on May 1.

“The Secretary knows full well the harm and suffering he is causing the Cuban people today,” he added.

So far, Washington has only allowed the arrival, at the end of March, of a Russian oil tanker. According to Mr. Trump, it was a one-off shipment.

The U.S. ​military is not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba or actively preparing to militarily take over the island, the top ‌general overseeing American forces in Latin America told lawmakers on Thursday (March 19, 2026).

But the U.S. stands ready ​to address any threats to the U.S. Embassy, defend its base at Guantanamo Bay, ⁠Cuba, and aid U.S. government efforts to address any mass migration from the island, if needed, General Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, said.

Mr. Donovan’s remarks came during a Senate hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s increasingly muscular use of the ‌U.S. military in Latin America, where his administration has re-asserted the idea that the region falls into Washington’s zone of influence.

Mr.Trump has launched military strikes on suspected drug boats and is expanding ‌counter-narcotics alliances with pro-Washington governments in Latin America, even carrying out joint operations with Ecuador on the ‌ground ⁠there earlier this month.

In January, U.S. special forces seized Venezuela’s then-President Nicolas Maduro in ⁠a raid on his Caracas compound and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.

Trip to Venezuela

Mr. Donovan, who was the No. 2 at Special Operations Command at the time of the raid, made a surprise visit to Venezuela for security talks last ​month shortly after taking over the Latin America ‌post.

Mr. Trump said on Monday (March 16, 2026) that he expected to take Cuba “in some form” and that “I can do anything I want” with the neighboring country, which sits about 90 miles (180 km) south of Florida’s Key West. But so far, U.S. efforts appear aimed at creating economic leverage over the island.

Mr. Trump has piled tremendous ‌economic pressure on Cuba by halting all Venezuelan oil shipments to the island, which has been forced ​to carry out severe energy rationing. Much of its economy has ground to a halt. On Monday, Cuba’s electric grid collapsed, leaving the country of 10 million people ⁠without power.

Asked whether the U.S. was conducting any military rehearsals that involve seizing, occupying, or otherwise asserting control over Cuba, Donovan said: “U.S. Southern Command is not.”

He was then asked whether he knew of any U.S. military command doing so, ‌and Mr. Donovan responded: “No.”

Questions about U.S. next steps come as Cuba and the United States have opened talks aimed at improving their largely adverse relations, which have reached one of the most contentious moments in the 67 years since Fidel Castro overthrew what had been a close U.S. ally.

Under-investment in Latin America

In the hearing, Mr. Donovan noted that Guantanamo Bay had suffered storm damage and needed fresh investment, along with other Caribbean locations that U.S. officials have long said suffered from under-investment over the past two decades, when the U.S. military’s focus was ‌on combating militant groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State.

“I won’t pull any punches, it’s in rough shape,” Mr. Donovan said of ​Guantanamo Bay.

“Because of the hurricane damage, we’re down to one working pier and one refueling pier. I believe (the base) is a pivotal point for any operations in the Caribbean,” ⁠he added.

Mr. Donovan said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the U.S. Coast Guard, would be in the lead ⁠in any mass migration event from Cuba, which experts have long warned could follow a collapse of the Communist government in Havana. But he left open the possibility of setting up a ‌camp at Guantanamo Bay for any overflow of migrants.

Asked about what U.S. forces were prepared to do if there were a security threat to Americans in Cuba, Mr. Donovan responded: “If it developed into a ​physical security threat to the U.S. embassy or the base at Gitmo, we would put U.S. troops to defend American lives.” 

The United Nations said on Friday (February 13, 2026) it was deeply alarmed by the crisis unfolding in Cuba as the island nation struggles under what amounts to a U.S. blockade of oil deliveries.

President Donald Trump has vowed to starve Cuba of oil after last month’s U.S. military ousting of Nicolas Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, which had been communist Cuba’s main oil supplier.

“We are extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis — amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments,” U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told a media briefing in Geneva.

“This is having an increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba. U.N. rights chief Volker Turk “reiterates his call on all States to lift unilateral sectoral measures, given their broad and indiscriminate impact on the population. Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights,” the spokeswoman said.

Ms. Hurtado said that given the dependence of health, food, and water systems on imported fossil fuels, oil scarcity in Cuba had put the availability of essential services at risk.

“Intensive care units and emergency rooms are compromised, as are the production, delivery, and storage of vaccines, blood products, and other temperature-sensitive medications,” she said.

“More than 80% of water pumping equipment in Cuba depends on electricity,” she added, saying power cuts were undermining access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.

Mr. Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants, have made no secret of their desire to bring about regime change in Havana.

The island of 9.6 million inhabitants, under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962, has for years been mired in a severe economic crisis marked by extended power cuts and shortages of fuel, medicine and food.

“The long-term, sustained impact of sectoral sanctions creates economic hardship and weakens the state’s capacity to fulfil its core responsibilities, including providing protection and assistance services. This increases the risk of fuelling social disruption in Cuba,” Mr. Hurtado said.

Cuba needs to respond to the situation in line with international human rights law, she added, prioritising mediation, de-escalation, and the safeguarding of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.